


Through the Darkness

by islandgirl



Category: Hawaii Five-0
Genre: Alternate Universe, Case Fic, F/M, Hurt/Comfort, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-09-03
Updated: 2012-09-03
Packaged: 2017-11-13 11:49:08
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 9
Words: 52,994
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/503213
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/islandgirl/pseuds/islandgirl
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Navy SEAL Steve McGarrett is injured when his team's convoy is attacked while transporting a prisoner. He's currently rehabbing at Tripler, trying to regain the use of his legs after a spinal injury left him in a wheelchair for the past two months. Grace Williams' class is learning about community service and spends an hour and half a week at Tripler with the recovering soldiers. Grace is drawn to the quiet, mysterious SEAL and soon the two have formed a bond, one that begins healing Steve's scarred heart and mind. Detective Danny Williams is haunted by a cold case that should've never gone cold in the first place. With the case only a few months old, and now one afternoon free a week while his daughter is out learning community service, Danny digs into the case again under the table with the help of another disgraced cop and will stop at nothing to see justice served.  (written for LJ's Hawaii Big Bang)</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> First, I owe a huge thank you to betty_mraz who has been absolutely wonderful to me through this whole experience. If it wasn't for her, I would've gone batty long ago! She's been much more than my beta and my friend, she's been my rock and I can't thank her enough for all her of help, her advice, and her tremendous amount of patience and encouragement through this. Love you babe.
> 
> And I definitely need to thank seleneheart, my artist, who did an absolutely amazing job creating such beautiful works of art to compliment my story. I can't thank you enough for all of your hard work and for bringing parts of my story to life. You are incredible.

**Through The Darkness – Part One**  
 **Fandom:**  Hawaii Five-0  
 **Pairing:**  Steve/Danny (pre-slash)  
 **Rating:**  PG-13

  


            Grace is practically bouncing in the seat with excitement as Danny pulls into the school’s parking lot.  He spares a glance at her in the rearview mirror as he waits in the parent drop-off line.  She’s got her backpack on her lap and her permission slip clutched in her hands as she waits impatiently to get out of the car.

            “Are you excited for today, Monkey?” Danny asks, turning around in his seat so he can face his daughter.

            “Yeah!” Grace beams at him.  “I can’t wait to go help!”

            Danny chuckles and turns back around, inching the car forward in line.  Truth be told, he wasn’t exactly keen on letting Grace go on this “field trip” with her class.  In fact, he wouldn’t even call it a field trip.  A field trip was supposed to be fun, like a day at the aquarium or the zoo, not going to a hospital after school.  When Grace had brought home the permission slip two weeks ago along with the letter from her teacher, Danny thought she was crazy, wanting to drag a bunch of 8 year olds to a veteran’s hospital.  The letter explained that the third graders were learning about community service and that instead of picking up litter in the parks or volunteering at animal shelters like the other classes, Grace’s teacher wanted to take her class to the VA to connect with soldiers returning from war. 

            It seemed like a ludicrous idea, at first.  He didn’t want his daughter going there and being scared by missing limbs and broken spirits.  He was sure he wasn’t the only parent that thought this way, but Grace was insistent on going.  She came home each day and told him how many kids had turned in their permission slips and how much she wanted to go.  She taped the permission slip to the coffee pot every morning and gave him her best puppy-dog eyes when he just glowered at the piece of paper.  Finally, after talking with Grace’s teacher, and a few of the nurses at the facility, he signed the permission slip for Grace last night.  Just in time too, as today is their first trip.  Hence why Grace is about to bounce right out of the car with excitement.

            As they inch closer to the front of the school, Danny turns back to her and tries to hide his trepidation with a smile.  “Remember Gracie, listen to your teacher and the nurses, okay?  And don’t wander off.  I’ll pick you up around 5, all right?”

            He watches in the rearview mirror as Grace rolls her eyes, but nods along with what he is saying.

            “I will, Danno.”  She meets his eyes in the mirror and smiles.  As the car pulls up to the front of the line, Grace unbuckles her seatbelt and scrambles up to the front of the car, poking her head between the front seats.  She throws her arms around his neck and plants a kiss on his cheek.  “Love you Danno!”

            He barely has time to answer her back with a quick, “Love you too, Monkey,” before she is out of the car and heading into the school.  Danny watches her go for a moment, brunette pigtails bouncing through the crowd, before the cars behind him start to honk their horns.  “Okay, okay.  Hold your horses people,” Danny mutters as he puts the car into drive and pulls away from the school.

            “Let’s go, Steve,” Makani calls out as he enters the room. 

            Steve sighs heavily and turns his head to the side so he can see his nurse.  Mak is standing a few feet away, at the foot of the bed, watching Steve carefully.  “I told you, Mak, I’m not going.”

            “Oh yeah you are.  Doc’s orders, remember?  She said you needed to get out of your room and socialize.  The kids are gonna be here soon so let’s get you ready.  Can’t have you scaring them all off on the first day.”  Mak comes around the side of Steve’s wheelchair to unlocks the wheel, but his hand is quickly intercepted.  Mak stills his movements and eases back a step, but keeps his eyes on Steve.

            Steve releases his grip and frowns over at the nurse.  “I can do it.”  With that, he releases the locks himself and grabs the wheels.  Spinning the chair around, he maneuvers himself away from the window.

            Grace fiddles with the tag she was given as her eyes move around the hallway nervously.  There isn’t much to see, just tiled floors and walls with artwork hanging on them, but she looks anyway.  The nurse is still talking, giving them all final instructions.  Don’t leave the rec area without supervision, don’t wander off, and don’t touch any medical equipment.  Grace sighs quietly and tries to be patient as she turns the pass over in her hands again, staring at the large, orange “V” on the front with the words “Rehab” and “Visitor” below it.

            “Keep the badge on, Grace,” her teacher reminds her as they start to move as a group down the hallway. 

            Quickly, Grace clips the badge to her shirt as they round a corner and enter the rec room.  It is a large area filled with couches and tables of varying sizes.  There are TVs on the walls, books stacked in crooked rows on shelves, and games of all kinds piled on tables.  Around the room are soldiers, some in wheelchairs or missing limbs or sporting bandages, and all watching them with anxious smiles.  Grace looks around and watches as her classmates, one by one, meander off to one soldier or another.  She stays where she is until her eyes fall on one particular figure.  He is sitting hunched in a wheelchair at a table facing the window well away from the rest of the room.  If he is intrigued by the sudden commotion in the room, he never shows it; he just sits there staring out at the gardens.

            Grace moves over to stand next to his wheelchair, but when he doesn’t turn to face her, she slides into the chair next to him and turns to face him.  After a moment, he turns his head enough to eye her, a frown wrinkling his brow as he looks at her.  She studies his face closely for a moment, eyeing the scar on his temple briefly before she takes in his despondent blue eyes.

            “Hi, I’m Grace,” she sticks her hand out and waits for a moment, but when he makes no move towards it, she lowers it back to her lap.  “What’s your name?”  He stays silent, turning his eyes back to the window.  Sighing, Grace turns and looks at her other classmates, playing games and talking with the other soldiers. 

            “Don’t worry about Steve,” a voice says from behind her.

            Grace turns around and looks to the tall, dark skinned man in scrubs that  appeared on the other side of Steve.  He has one hand on Steve’s shoulder and a broad grin on his face.  “Steve here is the silent type, but don’t worry.  He warms up after a bit.”  He squeezes Steve’s shoulder and leans down to whisper something to the man, who only frowns harder.  With a laugh, the nurse stands back up and extends his hand towards Grace.  “I’m Makani, by the way, but you can call me Mak.  I’m this big lug’s nurse.”

            Grace politely shakes his hand, smiling up at him.  “My name’s Grace.”

            “Well, Grace, what do you say, how would you like to draw?  I’d suggest a game, but Steve here cheats something awful at Battleship.”  Mak nudges Steve’s arm before moving to a cabinet and returning with a few pads of paper and box of art supplies.

            Giggling, Grace nods and snatches up a pad.  “I love to draw.  Danno says I’m an artist!”  She reaches for the box of pencils and situates them between herself and Steve.

            “I bet you are.”  Mak replies.  He drops a pad of paper in front of Steve and once again nudges his arm.  “Well, have fun you two.  I’ll be right over there if you need anything, Grace.”  Mak points towards the nurses’ station before making his way around the room.

            For the better part of an hour, Grace engrosses herself in drawing a [picture](http://acme-graphics.livejournal.com/40619.html) of the beach.  Every once and a while she glances up at Steve, but every time he is still sitting there, staring out the window.  Once she is finished, she slides the paper across the table so it is right in front of his hands.

            “Danno just bought a new house,” she murmurs quietly, eyes studying Steve’s face intently for a moment.  “It’s really neat because you can walk right out the back door onto the beach.  I’m not allowed to go in the water by myself yet, Danno’s afraid the sharks will eat me,” Grace giggles quietly into her hand, and then turns so she’s fully facing Steve.  “That’s what our beach looks like.  It’s really pretty.  Even Danno says so and he doesn’t like the beach very much.”

            Grace runs out of words suddenly and instead, turns her attention to kicking her feet back and forth under the chair.  The other kids are starting to clean up, so Grace sighs and turns back to the table, putting the pencils one by one into their box and arranging the paper into neat stacks.  When she is done, she stands up and watches Steve for a moment.  “Bye Mr. Steve,” she murmurs, then quickly makes her way over to where the rest of her class is gathering.  When she passes Mak, he smiles at her and gives her a thumbs up, pointing over to Steve.  She turns around in time to see him slid her picture into his lap.  She grins back over at Mak and waves.

            “See ya next week, Grace!” Mak calls out as they shuffle down the hallway.

            “So I see you made a new friend there!  Good for you, buddy.”  Mak states as he pushes Steve’s wheelchair back down the hallway.  He glances over Steve’s shoulder at the drawing and can’t help the smile.  “Kid was right, she’s pretty good at drawing, don’t ya think?”

            He isn’t expecting a response though, and just keeps up a quiet monologue as he maneuvers Steve’s wheelchair back to his room.  Once there, he moves to take the picture of Steve’s hand and is surprised when Steve grips it even tighter.  “Whoa, okay.  Take it easy.  You can hang on to it for a while then.  Just thought you might want to hang it up.”  Mak shrugs as he parks the wheelchair next to the bed and locks the wheels.  “You want a hand or are you going to be stubborn again tonight?”

            Without saying a word, Steve pushes up with his arms and clumsily maneuvers himself from the chair to the bed.  Mak waits patiently while Steve grunts and struggles with his own body until he is settled. 

            “Of course you’re going to be stubborn,” Mak mutters.  “Almost forgot who I was talking to.”  He moves the wheelchair out of the way and silently checks Steve’s vitals.  “You need meds now or can you wait until after dinner?”

            Steve just stares up at the ceiling, hands clutching the drawing to his chest.

            “Right.  Okay then.  Dinner will be around in a few.  I better see some of that food gone or I’m gonna tell Doc.  You know she’ll kick your ass into next week if you don’t start eating.”  With that, Mak moves towards the door, hovering just outside long enough to make sure Steve is actually settled before he moves on.

            

            Danny is just closing the case file in front of him when a voice booms from behind him, “You closed the Robinson case yet, Williams?!”  Danny has to stifle the sarcastic comment that wants to slip passed his lips and quickly covers it with a small cough.  He grabs the file and spins his chair around to face the man behind him.

            “Yeah, got it right here, Cap.  Case closed.”  Danny hands over the file and watches as the Captain briefly flips through the paperwork and nods.

            “It’s about time,” he mutters as he tucks the file under his arms and heads back towards his office.

            Behind Danny, Meka starts to laugh.  It starts out a small chuckle, but by the time Danny turns around to face his partner, Meka is near hysterics, doubled over and wheezing with laughter.  “Oh man,” he manages as the laughter starts to die down.  He leans back in his chair and wipes a few tears from his eyes.  “Sorry man,” he finally says.  “It’s just, I can’t believe Cap is still holding a grudge!  It’s been two months already!”

            “Yeah, laugh it up, pal.  Just don’t forget I wasn’t the only one that got busted back down to robbery.  You’re on his shit list as well.”  Danny turns back to the computer, not angry with his partner, just not wanting to continue the conversation.  He clicks through his email, even though there is nothing new to read, and pretends to be busy shuffling papers around his desk as the rest of the precinct goes back to work.

            “Aw, no hard feelings, right Danno?”  Meka leans a hip on Danny’s desk and clasps his shoulder.

            “Would you stop calling me that?  Only Gracie gets to call- forget it.”  Danny shakes his head as Meka starts grinning again.

            “Well listen man, I’m heading out.  Gotta go pick Billy up from school.”

            Danny looks down and at his watch and watches as it ticks just passed four o’clock.  He sighs heavily and leans back in his chair, wondering what he’s going to do to occupy himself for another hour until he can pick Gracie up.

            “Don’t you have to go get Grace?” Meka asks as he pushes himself away from Danny’s desk, grabbing up his keys and his suit jacket from the back of his chair.

            “No, not yet anyway.  It’s her first day of her community service project so she won’t get back to the school until around 5 or so.”  Danny leans forward in his chair and picks up his pen to start working on more paperwork.  Might as well get some work done while he’s waiting, he figures.

            “Oh that’s right!  Her class is visiting the VA, right?”  When Danny nods, Meka huffs out a surprised sound.  “I can’t believe you actually let her go.  Amy threatened to pull Billy from his teacher’s class if that was their project.  Thankfully they’re just picking up trash at the park!”

            Danny shrugs noncommittally.  He’s still not sure he made the best decision by letting her go, but he figures that if Grace is upset when he picks her up tonight, they’ll figure something else out.  “She’s a brave kid.  She’ll be fine,” he tells his partner, but the words fall flat even to his own ears.

            “Yeah, well anyway,” Meka can sense his partner’s unease and quickly moves on.  “Amy wanted to know if you and Grace wanted to come over this weekend for a cookout.  She hasn’t seen Grace in a few weeks and Billy’s been asking.”

            “We’ll see.  We’re still trying to unpack the house and move in.  Grace wanted to paint her room this weekend, but I’ll think about.”

            “All right, man.  See ya tomorrow then!”

            Meka heads out the door and Danny leans back in his chair with a sigh, closing his eyes.  He wants nothing more than to clean up the mass of papers strewn across his desk and head out for the night, but he knows he needs to get at least one more case file finished.  Meka may not care that the Captain is royally pissed at the two of them and holding a grudge, but Danny does.  He didn’t work his ass off solving homicides in New Jersey to have one case and a pissed off cop ruin the rest of his career.  He’s bound and determined to get back into homicide and solving real cases, not dealing with tourists that got robbed.

            “I’m not paying ya to sleep here, Williams!  Get back to work!”

            Heaving out a sigh, Danny sits back up and nods to the Captain.  The precinct is relatively quiet now, most of the detectives having gone home to their families save for the ones chasing down a few last leads.  With no one paying him any attention, Danny quietly unlocks his bottom desk drawer and pulls out a thin case file.  Before he can change his mind, Danny closes the drawer and takes the file with him, heading towards the evidence locker.

            He nods to the officer stationed there and quickly signs his name in the log.  As he is putting the pen down, he notices the name right above his, “C. Kelly”, hadn’t put down any case number.  He frowns at the log, then looks up to question the officer sitting there, but thinks better of it when he finds the guy texting instead of monitoring the log.  Danny shrugs and continues on into the room.  Officer Kelly is likely still in here, unless he’d not bothered to sign out.  He’d check him out and see what he was doing in there.

            The evidence locker is located in the basement of the police station and is little more than rows and rows of shelves filled with evidences boxes and filing cabinets filled with old case files.  Danny moves down to the last row containing the most recent cases and quickly makes his way down to the second to last shelf.  He’d been coming here often enough the last few weeks, he knew where his evidence was by heart now.  He reaches up to the shelf and is surprised when his hand meets nothing but air.  Looking up, Danny realizes that his box of evidence is missing.

            “What the hell?” he questions.  Stepping back, Danny eyes all the other boxes on that shelf, thinking maybe someone had accidentally moved it or put it back out of order.  All the other boxes are in the correct order though; only his case evidence is missing from the shelf.

            Danny is almost back to the door when he remembers the name scrawled above his in the logbook.  “C. Kelly”.  He is the only other officer to have signed in the book in the last few hours and he wasn’t signed out.  Danny moves quietly through the rows until he reaches the back of the evidence locker where there are tables set up.  Sitting at the very last table with an evidence box and its contents spread all over the table he finds Kelly.

            “Officer Kelly?” Danny calls out, not wanting to spook the man.  The guy looks up, alarmed, but doesn’t move from where he is hunched over the evidence.  Danny moves a few steps closer, close enough to see his case number scrawled on the box.  “What are you doing down here?  And what the hell are you doing with my evidence?”

            Kelly straightens up then, eyes flicking from the papers in front of him back to Danny.  “You’re Detective Williams?” he questions, picking up a piece of paper that looked to be in Danny’s own handwriting.  “What happened with Doran?”

            “Excuse me?!” Danny asks, taken aback by this guy’s abruptness.  Who the hell is he to come in here, rifle through Danny’s cold case, and start questioning him about suspects.  “Who the hell are you?!”

            Kelly drops the paper and holds his hands defensively.  “I’m Officer Chin Ho Kelly.  I was-”

            “John McGarrett’s partner.”  Danny finishes, finally recognizing the name.  _And suspected of stealing $50,000 from HPD lockup_ , Danny thinks but doesn’t voice.  He’s heard rumors, mostly from Meka, about Kelly and how he’d supposedly stolen the money.  HPD could never prove it was him, but that didn’t stop them from treating him like a criminal.  They couldn’t fire him out right, but they found reasons to demote him until he was little more than a traffic cop.  “That still doesn’t explain what the hell you’re doing here with my evidence.”

            Kelly studies him for a minute before responding.  “John was more than my partner, he was my best friend.  When he was murdered, I begged the Captain to let me assist with the investigation, but he refused.  I could’ve lived with that had the guy been caught.”  Chin looks down at the pictures spread out before him, grisly pictures from the crime scene and the autopsy.  When he looks back up at Danny, his face is void of any emotion, but his eyes are haunted.  “It’s been more than two months and his killer is still out there.  And worse than that?  The Captain’s declared it a cold case so no one even touches it anymore.  What kind of justice is that, huh?  McGarrett was a great cop, a great man.  He deserves better than that.”

            Danny watches, shocked, as Chin drops back down in his chair and hangs his head between his hands.  He understands where Kelly is coming from.  He and Meka may not be as tight as he and his partner were back in Jersey, but if Meka was murdered, he would still do everything in his power to hunt down the son of a bitch responsible.  Kelly’s loyalty is admirable, honorable even.  It doesn’t fit with all the rumors he’s heard about the man, even if Danny is never one to listen to gossip.  He gives Chin a few minutes to collect himself, then pulls out the chair across from him and sits down.

            “I get it,” Danny murmurs, eyes dancing over the pieces of paper in front of him.  “Are these copies of the case file?” he asks, picking up a piece of paper that Danny knows for a fact has been locked in his desk drawer.

            Chin nods quietly, moving to gather up the paper before Danny stops him.  “Yeah, sorry.  I knew no one would let me near that file so while I was working graveyard shift a few weeks ago, I picked the lock on your desk and made copies of everything.  I was planning on destroying them after the case was solved.”

            Danny let’s out a chuckle and shakes his head.  “Picked the lock on my desk?  Nice.”  He flips open the original file and starts leafing through the pages until he gets to his notes on Doran.  “Truth be told, I shouldn’t have it either.”  At Chin’s questioning look, Danny shakes his head, smile playing on his lips.  “You haven’t heard?  Cap knocked me down to Robbery.  If he knew I still had a homicide file open in my desk, there’d be hell to pay.  Your secret’s safe with me.”

            He shares a knowing smirk with Chin before looking back down at his notes.  “When the ballistics report came back linking this case with another unsolved murder from a few years ago, I knew we were dealing with illegal weapons.  Doran was our best bet.  He’s a weapons dealer and has kept pretty well below the radar the last few years.”  Danny leans back in his chair and flips through a few more pages of notes before he comes up with the one he wants and hands it over to Chin. 

            “I tried to get a search warrant for his place but the judge said we didn’t have probable cause.  Meka and I went after his girlfriend and got nothing, so we went after him ourselves for a little chat.  We got to his place and found it vacant.  Place had been cleared out in a hurry.  We put out an APB out on him, but nothing ever came of it.”  Danny shakes his head as he takes another look at Doran’s photo.  “It never made sense that he had taken off.  His car was gone, a good amount of personal property was gone from the house, no recent credit card purchases or withdrawals indicating that he was trying to leave the islands.  It was like he just disappeared.”

            “And he was your best lead?”  Chin asks.  “Nothing else stood out?”

            “There were shoe impressions on the floor and partials on the furniture around the body, but nothing concrete.  The rest of the house was untouched as far as CSU could tell.  No forced entry, no tripped alarms, no prints except for McGarrett’s on any of the doors and windows.”  Danny lists off, each piece of evidence they didn’t have feeling like another nail in the coffin.  “We never had much to start with and when Doran went missing, it just killed the whole case.”

            Chin nods, looking up from the paper he was reading.  As he lowers it, Danny can see it’s the transcript of the call that had come into HPD.  “What about his son?  Did you talk to him?”  When Danny doesn’t answer right away, Chin pushes forward a copy of McGarrett’s phone records.  “You requested his phone records and his last call was to his son, who was overseas at the time.”

            “Yeah, on a classified mission.”  Danny answers.  He pulls up his copy of the call transcripts though he nearly has it memorized.  “According to the information given to HPD, McGarrett’s son was on a mission when he received a call from his father whom he believed to be in distress.  He instructed another soldier to relay back to base that his father needed police assistance.  No more detail was given.”

            “What did Steve have to say?  He must’ve had some clue as to what was going on if he called for HPD.”  Chin urges, digging through the rest of the notes in the folder.  “How come there isn’t an interview or statement from Steve in here?  Did you talk to him?”

            Danny feels his stomach drop at the tone in Chin’s voice.  Chin has no idea that … Danny takes a deep breath.  “No, we weren’t able to talk to him.”  When Chin looks up sharply, Danny holds up his hand to stave off his questions.  “He was listed as next of kin for his father, he was my first call.  Unfortunately, I was told it would be impossible for me to speak with Steve at the time.  The Admiral told me that moments after that call had been made, the convoy Steve was in had been attacked and Steve suffered grievous injury.  He was in critical condition and later put into a medically induced coma.”

            Chin goes pale as he slumps back against the chair.  He brings his hand up to cover his face as he takes a few shaky, deep breathes.  Danny sighs in sympathy.  It’s almost as bad as telling Mary Ann McGarrett.  If Chin was McGarrett’s partner and best friend, then it stood to reason that he was fairly close to the McGarrett children as well. 

            “I’m sorry, man.  I didn’t know-”

            “It’s okay,” Chin interrupts him.  He runs a hand over his face and leans back up to the table.  “You don’t happen to know how he is doing, do you?”

            “No, sorry,” Danny answers.  “The last time I called, they refused to give me any information because I’m not family.  And it’s been over a month since I talked to Mary Ann.  I haven’t had any new breaks in the case and didn’t want to get her hopes up, ya know?”

            Chin nods, but remains silent as he keeps reading through all of Danny’s notes.  Danny casts a glance to his watch and realizes that he needs to leave now if he is going to make it to Grace’s school on time.  He gathers up his papers and slides them back into the file before he looks down at Chin.

            “I didn’t give up on it,” he states and watches as Chin looks up at him, confused.  “McGarrett’s murder.  I didn’t give up on it.  I’ve spent as much time as I could, sifting through all the evidence again and again, looking for anything I might’ve missed.  And I’m going to keep looking until I find his kids some answers.  They deserve that.” 

            Kelly looks up at him speechless for a moment before he reaches out his hand.  “It’s nice meeting you, Detective Williams.  And thank you.”

            “I’ll see you around, Officer Kelly.”  Danny stops when he is a few steps away from the table and turns around.  He pulls out his phone and scrolls through a list of numbers before handing it over to Chin.  “Mary Ann McGarrett’s cell number.  If you reach her, let me know.”

            “Will do,” Chin answers, handing Danny back his phone.  “Have a good night.” 

            When he pulls up to the school, the bus is just unloading and Danny can make out two brunette pigtails bouncing as Grace steps off the bus.  He smiles as he watches her shrug her backpack up higher on her shoulders and look around the parking lot.  He can tell the exact moment she sees his car because her face breaks out into huge grin and she starts running right for him, little legs tearing up the parking lot.

            As quick as he can, he unbuckles and climbs out of the car.  He barely makes it a step before he’s got his arms full of his little girl.  When she wraps her arms around his neck and squeezes, Danny can’t help but feel the weight of the rest of his day slough off his shoulders.  He hugs her back, burying his face in her hair for the briefest of moments before she’s squirming back down to the ground.  He lets her go without a fuss, but cups her face between his hands and smiles at her.

            “Hey Monkey.  How was your day?”  He watches in amazement as her face practically glows with excitement, her eyes dancing and her dimples coming out full force.

            “It was great!” She bounces on her toes as she says it and Danny can’t help but chuckle at her enthusiasm. 

            “Well, what do you say you tell me all about it over some …”

            “Shave ice!”  Grace is clambering into the backseat, backpack and all, when she stops and turns around to face him.  “Please Danno?  Can we have Shave Ice for dinner?!”

            Danny just shakes his head and motions for her to get in the car.  “No.  Not for dinner.”  He states, waving to Grace’s teacher before getting the car himself.  He looks in the rearview and sees Grace’s pout.  “But maybe after dinner,” he concedes and watches as she pumps her arms in triumph.  “So what do you want for dinner?”

            “Pizza!  With-”

            “The next words out of your mouth better not be pineapple or I’ll make you walk home.”  Danny says and listens contently as Grace laughs from the backseat.  “What kind of kid did I raise, huh?  Wanting to eat fruit on pizza.  I thought I raised you better than that,” he mutters good-naturedly and listens as Grace’s laugh gets even louder.  

            “Okay, okay,” she tries and fails to sound glum.  “We can get half with pineapple and half with pepperoni.”

            “Why thank you, Monkey.  Your sacrifice is appreciated.”  He spares a glance into the backseat and smiles at his daughter.  Sometimes it amazes him just how lucky he is.  Grace smiles back at him before her face grows serious.  She glances down at something in her hands.  He waits her out, flicking his gaze back and forth between the road and the rearview mirror.

            It takes until they pull into the parking lot of the pizza shop before Grace says anything else.  Danny turns the ignition off and unbuckles but makes no move to get out of the car.  Instead, he turns in his seat so he can see Gracie better.  It isn’t until he turns around that he can see what she has in her hands, a visitor’s badge from the VA hospital.  His heart sinks.  He knew this moment was coming, the moment when his little, innocent, baby girl is faced with the big, bad, ugly truth about the rest of the world. 

            He reaches back and takes her hand in his, breaking her concentration on the pass.  She looks up and her eyes look so sad it breaks his heart.  “Gracie?”

            Grace hesitates, flicking her eyes back down to the object in her hands, before she meets Danny’s gaze again.  “Danno, if something really bad happened to someone, would that make them stop talking?”

            Danny’s taken aback by her question for a moment before he’s able to gather himself.  He gives her hand a gentle squeeze and nods.  “Well, yeah I suppose it could Gracie.  A lot of things can make a person stop talking; if they’re sad or angry or confused.”

            She nods her head, seeming to accept the answer.  “If someone made them happy, will they start talking again?”

            “I, uh,” Danny hesitates, not sure where this is going, but Grace looks so desperate for an answer.  “I guess it would depend on what made them stop talking in the first place, but yeah, I would think that if someone helped them, they would talk again.  Why?”

            Grace unbuckles her seatbelt and tucks the visitor’s badge into her backpack.  “Mr. Steve doesn’t talk.  He looks so sad.  But I think I made him a little less sad today.  He kept the picture I drew for him and Mak gave me a thumbs up.” 

            When she looks up at him, she looks so optimistic.  Danny doesn’t want to give her false hope, especially not knowing all the circumstances surrounding this Steve.  But the way Grace is looking at him right now, all determined and confident, Danny can’t help but feel it too.  “That’s great, Monkey!  That must’ve been a special picture you drew for him.  I’m proud of you kiddo.”

            Grace beams at the praise, worries temporarily forgotten.  “I can’t wait to go back next week and help Mr. Steve again!”

            Danny opens his mouth, to say what he’s not sure, but he’s saved when Grace’s stomach growls.  With a laugh, Danny opens the car door.  “Come on Gracie.  Let’s go feed ya before you start to chew on the seats.”  Grace’s peal of laughter follows him out of the car.

            Long after lights go out for the evening, Steve lays on his side and stares out the window.  He can’t quite wrap his head around the little girl, Grace he reminds himself, from today.  She had been like a sunbeam breaking out from behind storm clouds, like coming up for fresh air after nearly drowning.  His scars, his silence, his wheelchair, none of it disturbed her.  She didn’t flinch at his glares or move on the way he expected a kid her age would after a few minutes of not being noticed.  No, she had sat right next to him and drew a picture.  She had talked to him and laughed, even when he hadn’t responded.  And the picture …

            Steve moves his hand and pulls the folded up piece of paper out from beneath his pillow.  With all the care he can muster with his shaky hands, Steve unfolds the piece of paper and lays it on the bed where he can see it in the moonlight.  The picture is simple enough, bright blue-green ocean meeting yellow sand, a cheery orange sun sitting in the blue sky while spiky palm trees dot the sand.  It’s a beach.  It could a thousand beaches anywhere in the world, but it reminds him of so much.  It reminds him of an undisturbed childhood of frolicking in the waves and building sandcastles as tall as he could reach.  It reminds him of a father’s proud smile and a mother’s warm embrace.  It reminds him of home.

            It’s been nearly 15 years since he’d last step foot in Hawaii.  15 long years of grief and heartache, of struggle and sacrifice, of working hard and paying the price to be something better for his country.  15 long years of having no one to write home to and no one to visit on leave.  It’s been 15 years since he stood on that beach and let his toes sink into the sand and the water lap around his ankles.  It’s been 15 years since he could relax.

            Staring down at the picture now, he can almost hear the waves crashing against one another as they roll in.  He can feel the sun shining down on him and feel the sand under his feet.  Closing his eyes, he holds on to that feeling, letting it carry him away for a little while.

  


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	2. Chapter 2

**Through the Darkness:  Part Two  
** Fandom:    Hawaii Five-0  
 **Pairing:**   Steve/Danny (pre-slash)  
 **Rating:**   PG-13

 

  


            When Makani comes into his room a week later, Steve is sitting in his wheelchair by the window again.  Mak tries hard not to sigh in disappointment.  Steve had seemed almost … better this week.  After the visit from the kids, Mak had found Steve staring at the picture a lot, falling asleep with it clutched in his hands most nights.  It had seemed like that little girl had ignited something in Steve, lit a spark that his doctors and therapists had been trying in vain to do for over a month now. 

            Steve had been making an effort to eat more, even when he was nearly green with nausea.  He had been getting out of bed and moving around more.  He had been pushing harder than ever at physio.  No one was sure exactly what it was because Steve was still barely talking to any of them, but Steve had only been improving.

            Now though, it seemed like he was backsliding again.  Mak shakes his head and continues on into the room.  He is determined to get Steve back to that rec room today.  He only hopes that the little girl will be back this week and attempt to talk with Steve again.  As he gets closer to Steve, though, Mak realizes that something is different.

            “You got your hair cut” he states, dumbfounded.  When Steve turns the chair around, it is then that Mak notices he is shaved as well.  “Damn, man.  Shaved too?  Got a hot date?”  Mak smirks as he leans against Steve’s bed. 

            Steve just shakes his head quietly and averts his eyes, a slight blush creeping up his cheeks.  The sight, a blushing, embarrassed Steve, only makes Mak smile harder.  Yeah, that little girl had definitely gotten to the big, bad SEAL.  He gives Steve a good once over and approves of what he sees.  There is more color in his face, his cheeks are a bit fuller, and his eyes don’t seem so lost and tortured as they had before.  Things are definitely improving.

            “Well, all right then.  We better not keep the little miss waiting,” Mak grabs a hold of handles on the wheelchair as Steve starts to maneuver passed him.  “Hey, take a break man, your arms must be tired.  I heard Kono put you through the wringer today.  I’ll get ya down there in one piece, I promise.”

            Mak waits with bated breath to see how he will respond and is pleasantly surprised when Steve actually opens his mouth and rasps out “Okay”.  Grinning wide, Mak wheels Steve down the hallway towards the rec room, catching a glimpse of familiar set of brunette pigtails coming through the doors as they pass.

            Grace is a bit nervous as she walks into the rec room with her class, but is relieved to see that Mr. Steve is in the exact same spot as last week, sitting in his wheelchair at the table by the window.  As she heads his way, she sees Mak and waves to him. 

            “Hey Grace!” Mak greets her as he follows her to the table.  “What do you think, you wanna draw again this week?”

            Grace doesn’t even hesitate, just nods her head and takes a seat next to Steve.  “Hi Mr. Steve!” she greets him and is surprised when he turns to face her with a small smile on his lips.  She grins even wider as she reaches for the paper and the colored pencils.

            Like the week before, Steve is quiet and stares out the window most of the time and Grace draws next to him, making a few random comments.  This week though, Steve spends some time studying her, watching as she draws and following the line of her mouth as she smiles at him.  When one of her pencils goes rogue and starts rolling off the opposite end of the table, Steve catches it in the nick of time and deposits it back into the pile.

            When Grace slides the picture to him this week, it’s not a beautiful beach scene, but rather a picture of a tall man with an “S” on his shirt and a cape flowing behind him.  Steve looks up at her questioningly and she just shrugs, suddenly bashful.  She stares down at her hands knotted in her lap and kicks her feet to and fro for a quiet moment before she gathers up enough courage.

            “It’s you.  Super Steve,” she whispers, voice barely audible over the noise of the rest of the room, but he hears her and looks at her in awe.  After a moment of hesitation, she continues.  “Tommy said that his dad is a soldier and that he’s like a superhero.  He goes on dangerous missions to save people and fights the bad guys, like Superman and Batman.  That makes you a superhero too.  You’re Super Steve.”

            _Super Steve_ , he mouths the words as he looks down at the picture.  He can feel a knot of emotion swelling in his throat and has to swallow hard a few times to keep it at bay.  When he looks up at Grace a moment later, he can only manage a garbled, “Thank you” before he has to look away again.

            The rest of their time is spent in silence.  Grace finishes up her picture, adding the word “Super Steve” in big, bold letters at the bottom, and Steve tries to block everything out.  When their time is up, Grace quietly puts the pencils away and like the previous week, slides the picture in front of him, stirring Steve out of his daze.

            “Bye Mr. Steve,” Grace whispers nervously.

            This time though, Steve turns to face her and manages to crack a small smile as he rasps out a quiet “Bye Grace.”

           

            By the time Makani turns back around, Steve is already gone from the rec room.  He frowns and looks around but can’t spot him anywhere.  He had noticed the small exchange between Steve and Grace and had been hopeful that someone was finally opening Steve up.  His hopes had been dashed a few moments later when he watched Steve shut right down before their eyes.  Grace hadn’t looked too upset when she had said good-bye, but maybe she hadn’t realized.

            “Hey Alina, I’m going to check on Steve.  I’ll be back.” 

            The nurse looks up at Mak as he starts to walk away.  “Everything okay?” she asks, pausing from her work.

            “Yeah, I’m sure he’s fine.  Just want to make sure he got back to his room okay,” Mak quickly reassures her.  Sure, Mak is Steve’s primary nurse, but everyone on the floor worries about him.  With his injuries and no family around to visit, they are all concerned about him.  “I’ll be back in a few.”

            When he reaches Steve’s room, he is relieved to see Steve sitting once again in front of the window.  His head is bowed, shoulders tense as he stares down at something in his lap.  Mak raps lightly on the doorframe as he walks into the room.  “Hey man, you snuck out pretty fast there!  Guess Kono didn’t work you over that hard if you can escape that fast.”

            Steve, unsurprisingly, doesn’t respond.  He curls his fingers tighter around the picture, crinkling the edges.  When Mak comes around to lean against the windowsill, he gets a better look at the picture and has to smile.

            “Super Steve, huh?”  He chuckles and reaches for the picture, surprised when Steve relinquishes his grip quickly.  Mak studies the picture for a brief moment, before turning his attention to Steve.  “She’s got a good eye for detail, that kid.  Looks just like ya!”

            Steve makes a derisive snort and looks out the window, face pulling down into a frown.  “Yeah, some superhero,” he rasps out sarcastically.  “I’m stuck in a fucking chair and I’m not even in the Navy anymore.”

            Mak tries to hide his surprise at the fact that Steve is talking, and more than just monosyllabic answers.  He reaches a hand out and gently clasps Steve shoulder.  He feels the tension thrumming through Steve’s muscles and gives his shoulder a squeeze, forcing him to relax a fraction. 

            “That’s the thing about kids, man.  They only see the best in people,” Mak replies.  “Grace, well in her eyes, you are a superhero.  She doesn’t know about your injuries or why you’re in the chair, but she knows that you saved people.  What you are now, or what you think you are, is irrelevant.  To her, you are a hero.  She doesn’t see anything but that.”

            Mak gives his shoulder a squeeze and stands up.  Grabbing up a roll of medical tape from the side table, he takes the picture and tapes it up on the wall across from the end of Steve’s bed, ignoring Steve’s noise of protest. 

            “Maybe you should start looking at yourself like Grace sees you.  Focus on the superhero and not the chair.”  With that, Mak makes his way back out of the room, only pausing for a brief moment in the doorway.  “Dinner trays will be around soon.  You better eat up, Super Steve, you’re going to need your strength for another session with Kono tomorrow.”

            “I got a hold of Mary Ann McGarrett,” Chin announces as he walks out onto the porch.  He hands Danny a beer and pulls out a chair, glancing over to where Danny’s head is poking up from the file he was engrossed in. 

            “Yeah?  What’d she have to say?”  Danny asks, dropping the file and turning to face Chin.

            “Well, she wasn’t too happy to hear from me at first, until she remembered me.  Then she had quite a bit to say, mostly about damn haole detectives that don’t return phone calls.”  Chin grins as he takes a sip from his beer bottle, but then his face grows serious again.  “She also said that her brother is awake and is currently rehabbing at Tripler’s VA hospital.  She called ahead to let the doctor know and to give her permission to talk to us.”

            Danny nods quietly for a minute before he dares to look up at Chin.  “Did she mention how he was doing?  I mean, I don’t want to go and dredge up hard memories for a guy that just woke up from a coma or anything, no matter how much I want to solve this case.”

            “Steve’s been awake for almost two months now according to Mary.  But he’s not real talkative.  Mary talks to him once every other week or so, but mostly she gets her information from his nurses and therapists.”

            At the mention of the name, Danny jolts in his seat, but quickly settles back down.  It’s just a coincidence, he thinks to himself.  Steve is a popular name, it’s not the same Steve that Gracie has become attached to.  Danny still can’t shake the feeling for another few minutes so he goes back to staring down at the ballistics report.  “Did she say when we could see him?”

            “Not until next week or so I think.  The doc has to clear him and then she’ll call us and schedule a time.”  Chin shrugs noncommittally and goes back to searching the evidence.

            “It’s still not sitting right with me,” Danny mutters a few minutes later and pushes the report across to Chin.  “This guy is like a ghost.  He gets onto the island, gets into a cop’s house, beats him, restrains him, shoots him, and then leaves?  What purpose does that serve?”

            “Murder doesn’t always make sense, Danny.”  Chin stares down at the forensics report and rubs a hand over his eyes.

            “No, but there’s usually a purpose behind someone’s actions.  If you want someone dead, you break into their house and shoot them, you don’t waste time tying them up and beating them.  And if you are seeking information, you don’t just throw some punches around, especially not to a seasoned cop like McGarrett.”  Danny runs a hand through his hair and leans back in his chair.  “And Doran.  I get the feeling he’s connected to this, but we can’t question him because he disappeared.  And McGarrett’s son is a potential witness, but we can’t question him yet until a doctor clears him.  Is there anyone that we can question?!”

            Chin’s head pops up and a slow smile spreads across his face.  “I may know someone,” he mutters, pulling out his phone and stepping away from the table. 

            Danny watches in interest, trying to gather whom Chin is talking to.  He only gets every few words though, and most of those are pidgin, which Danny is hopeless at translating.  Instead, he flips his phone open and watches as the clock ticks over to five minutes after four.  He still has another hour before he has to wrap this up and go pick up Grace and he wonders once again if he was crazy to try and solve this behind his partner’s back and without the Captain’s knowledge.  He felt bad brushing Meka off the last two weeks, sneaking off to meet up with Chin instead.  Even though it was completely absurd, he still couldn’t shake the feeling that he was cheating on his partner.

            “We might just have a lead,” Chin announces a moment later, gathering up a few pieces of evidence and pushing the rest back into the file. 

            “Who?!” Danny asks, gathering up the rest of the files and stashing them away in their appropriate folders.  When Chin just gives him a wider smile and says “You’ll see”, Danny thinks he should be more nervous but he’s too excited at the prospect of running down a new lead.  He grabs his keys from the table and locks up the house.  “I’ll follow you there.”

            When they pull up at a shrimp truck twenty minutes later and Danny sees the large man Chin’s heading for, Danny realizes that he shouldn’t have gotten his hopes up so high.  He plasters a kind smile on his face as he gets out of the car and follows a few steps behind Chin up to the window.

            “Howzit, brah?!” the big man in the truck asks enthusiastically, then catching sight of Danny’s badge and gun, grows grim.  “To what do I owe da pleasure of HPD’s finest?”  His voice is a bit sarcastic, but Danny just grits his teeth and keeps the smile in place, grateful when Chin quickly opens his mouth to reply.

            “Easy, Kame.  Danny’s _maika’i_ (good).”

            The big guy looks Danny up and down, then gives a small shrug as he turns back to Chin.  “Still a _haole_ ,” he mutters and Chin can’t help but laugh.

            “Danny this is Kamekona.  Kame meet Detective Danny Williams, he’s investigating John McGarrett’s murder.”  Chin states the last part lowly so the surrounding crowds won’t hear their conversation.  “We need some information.”

            Danny watches as Kamekona’s face falls, quickly turning from skeptical to morose.  He nods to them and glances around at the thinning crowds.

             “Can do, brah.  Meet me ‘round back.”  With that, Kamekona slides the window closed and hangs up a small “Closed” sign. 

            Danny and Chin sit down at the picnic table behind the truck and wait patiently as Kamekona lumbers over and sits down across from them.  He wipes a hand across his forehead, then squints up at the two of them.

            “There’s a lot of _olelo_ (talk) going round that the man who killed McGarrett is still on the island. Bad man too.  They say he’s a ghost.”  Kamekona looks over his shoulder like he expects the man he’s talking about to appear.

            Danny has a lot of questions he wants to ask but he has the distinct feeling that Kamekona would shut his trap quickly if Danny started poking around.  So he lets Chin have the lead, for now.  He doesn’t even need to give Chin a look to get the man to start asking the right questions.

            “Do you have a name, Kame?”

            Kamekona shakes his head quickly.  “No, brah.  Don’t ask, don’t wanna know.  People dat get mixed up wit’ him end up _mak_ _é_ (dead).”

            “People like Doran?” Chin easily slides the mug shot of Doran across the table, but snatches it back when Kame quickly nods and looks away.

            “Yea, people like ‘im.”  Kame shifts nervously.  “He’s big fish, brah.  Dangerous.”

            Danny’s getting impatient, this is getting them nowhere, but before he can voice his frustration, Chin intercedes once again.  He leans forward so his voice won’t have to carry far.

            “This guy, do you think you can get his name, brah?  We owe it to McGarrett to catch this guy.  Both of us.”         

            Chin’s words must strike home because Kame sighs and nods.

            “Why do you owe it to McGarrett?” Danny finds himself asking though he swore he wouldn’t.  Kamekona looks at him for a moment before a smile lights up his face.

            “McGarrett did right by me.  Looked the other way when most cops woulda locked me up.  McGarrett was a good man.”  Kame nods fondly, then adds, “And he was my first customer,” nodding towards the truck.

            Chin chuckles and adds, “Yeah, back before you knew how to cook shrimp properly.”  Kame laughs along with Chin, a rumbling laugh that has the table shaking.  When he catches his breath, he looks at Danny once again.

            “I get da name, you catch ‘im.  For McGarrett.”

            Danny and Chin both nod and move to stand up.  Chin starts to reach for his wallet but Kamekona shakes his head and waves his hands.  “No brah, not this time.  For McGarrett, it’s free.”  Chin nods appreciatively and heads towards the car.

            When Kono waltzes into his room the next day, there is an even bigger smile on her face than usual.  “Today’s the day!” she announces as she grabs the wheelchair and maneuvers it over to the bed.  Steve just stares at her blankly as he removes the blanket from his legs and starts to push himself out of the bed.  It evidently isn’t the response Kono is looking for and she lets him know it, punching him, none too lightly, in the arm and rolling her eyes.

            “Really?  Not even an ounce of excitement to start working out your legs?”  Kono shakes her head and holds the chair steady as Steve clumsily slides into it.  Kono locks the sides back into place and starts to unlock the wheels when something catches her attention.  “So the mysterious artist strikes again, huh?”

            Kono quickly moves across the room before Steve can stop her and plucks the drawing from the wall.  She admires if for a second, before she turns back to Steve with a grin on her face.  “Super Steve? Really?”  Kono pretends to think on it for a moment before she laughs and tapes it back in place.  She studies it for another moment before moves back around to help Steve maneuver the wheel chair out of the room.  “Little _keiki_ really knows you, brah.”

            Steve, for the most part, tries to ignore Kono.  She acts more times like his little sister than his therapist, constantly ribbing him and throwing out jabs despite the fact that Steve barely acknowledges her.  He doesn’t admit it, but sometimes she is like a burst of sunshine in his day, smiles and laughter and light in his gloomy existence.  Some days though, she is like a tornado, whirling about and you can’t get out of her path fast enough.  She’s very rarely angry, but Steve’s witnessed it a few times, when she gets frustrated with Steve and his lack of communication and his lack of progress.  She gets quiet and serious and snappy. 

            Kono’s done more for Steve that she’ll ever know.  Her constant chatter quiets the chatter in his head for a little while.  And she’s one of the few people in this damned place that won’t walk on eggshells around him.  She calls him on his bullshit and is probably the toughest on him.  That’s why Steve lets her punch him in the arm instead of glaring or yelling, it’s why Steve let’s her pry and snoop and talk and joke and laugh even if it’s the last thing on earth he wants at that moment. 

            When they get to the therapy room, Kono wheels him over to the window like normal and locks the wheels.  They go through his normal routine of stretches and exercises for his arms, but afterward, Kono plops her butt on the ground in front of Steve’s wheelchair.  She gently lifts Steve’s left foot off the footrest and moves the footrest out of the way.  She smiles up at Steve as she slowly starts to rotate his foot and bend his ankle.

            “Dr. Waincroft said we could start working on exercising your legs.  Your scans came back and she said everything looks to be stable right now so she wants us to start working them, getting some of the muscle tone back and see if feeling will come back on its own.”  Kono’s small hands are working as she talks, bending and maneuvering his limbs.

            Steve has to look away, can’t stand seeing the way his legs are under the power of someone else’s control and he can’t do anything about it.   It’s not that he doesn’t trust Kono, because he does.  It’s the fact that no matter how much he tries to pull his foot away or flex his knee, his leg remains useless and limp in her grasp.  He grits his teeth hard and stares out the window with tears building up in his eyes.

            After a moment, Kono looks up and is shocked at Steve’s expression, an expression of misery and defeat.  “Hey, Steve.  Everything okay?”  Kono eases Steve’s foot back to the ground and quickly moves over to his side, forcing her self into his line of sight.  “Did I hurt you?”  When Steve just stares at her, eyes burning red with the fight to hold back his emotions, Kono lays her hand on his arm gently.  “Would you rather have someone else do this? Keoni, maybe?  Or Mak?”

            Her quiet sympathy and understand feels like a punch to the gut and Steve’s anger flares.  “No,” he grunts out and jerks his body away from her as far as he can.  He tries desperately to force his leg to move, to pick it up off the floor so he can get the hell out of here, but nothing happens.  “Fuck!” he cries out and slams both of his fists down on the arms of the wheelchair in anger. 

            A quiet hush comes over the room as the other patients and therapists turn their eyes towards the scene over by the window.  Kono looks up apologetically, but quickly turns her attention back to Steve who’s grabbing his leg and trying to drag it back up onto the footrest.  She quickly grabs Steve’s hands and stills them, even as a few tears slip down his cheeks.

            “Easy, Steve.  You’re going to hurt yourself!” she whispers fiercely, prying his fingers from their white-knuckle grip on the leg of his pants.  Once his fingers are free, she gently eases his leg back up onto the footrest and tugs the pant leg back down around his ankle.  “What the hell do you think you’re doing, huh?  Trying to cause more damage?”

            “That’s the point, don’t you get it?!” Steve seethes.  “I can’t feel it.  I can’t feel anything!”  Steve lashes a fist out against his thigh and Kono is shocked at the force of it.  She quickly intercedes when he raises his hand again, grabbing his fist between her hands and squeezing it gently.

            “Steve, Malia said that-”

            “Two months, Kono.  Two fucking months I’ve been told that I should gain feeling and control back in my legs, that I’ll be able to walk again, that it’s just going to take some time.”  Steve’s voice peters off to barely a whisper.  He heaves out a ragged breath and when he looks back up at Kono, he looks at her in defeat.  “It’s been two months and I’m no better than I was when I woke up after the first surgery.  It’s useless.  I’m never gonna walk again and we both know it.”

            He tries to pull his hand out of her grasp but she holds on tight.  She chases his eyes until he finally meets her gaze and squeezes his hand as hard as she can.  “No,” she states firmly.  She can feel tears in her eyes and shrugs a shoulder up to her cheek to wipe away the one that escaped.  “No.  I’m not giving up.  I’ll sit here and work your legs every day if that’s what it takes, but I’m not giving up.  And neither should you.  Dr. Waincroft is the best in her field and if she thinks you can walk, then I believe her.” In a rare moment of affection, Kono frees up one of her hands and gently wipes away a tear from Steve’s cheek. 

            “You, Steve, are a fighter.  I know.  I’ve read your med file, I’ve seen you overcome so much in these two months.  This, this is just another thing you’re going to overcome.  You’re Super Steve, remember?”  Kono cracks a smile and forces it as wide as she can manage and is relieved when Steve’s lips twitch at the corners.  It’s not anywhere near a smile, but it’s a start and she’ll take it for now.

            When her watch beeps, Kono looks down and realizes that their time is up.  “Well, you are off the hook for now, pal.  I’ve got another session in a few minutes so let’s get you back to your room.”  Kono pushes herself up from the floor, wincing as her knee groans in protest.  “You should be the one sitting on the floor giving my legs a massage, not the other way around buddy.”

            She keeps up a constant stream of chatter as she wheels Steve back to his room and helps him back into bed.  On her way out of the room, she catches Mak’s eyes and just shakes her head mutely.  The way Mak’s face falls, she knows he gets her meaning; their session didn’t go well today.  Mak sighs heavily before grabbing Steve’s lunch tray and heading to the room.

            “Hey Super Steve!  Lunch’s here!” he calls out cheerfully.

            When Dr. Waincroft comes clicking into Steve’s room a short time later, she’s disappointed to find him still sitting in his chair facing the window, dinner tray sitting untouched behind him.  She pauses in the doorway for a moment and tries to take a deep calming breathe.  Of all the stubborn soldiers she has to deal with on a daily basis, Steve is the one that tests her patience the most.  It’s not that he’s intentionally stubborn, it’s just the way he’s hard-wired; all the special ops one are she’s learned quickly.  But Steve has an added layer to him, this rough, unbreakable exterior strengthened by all he’s gone through in the last few months.  She doesn’t know what happened before his military career started, but she knows he’s got reservoirs of strength deeper than anyone she’s ever known.  Lately though, it seems like he’s running out.

            When Steve had first come to her, fresh off an aircraft carrier and the first of many surgeries, she had been worried.  One look at him from the outside and he appeared to only have a few minor injuries.  He’d had an ugly gash on his forehead, slicing from above his right brow down across his temple.  He’d been bruised all over and struggling with the effects of a bad concussion.  One look at his scans, though, and her worry had turned grim.  His back was a mess, pieces of shrapnel sitting up snug against the entire length of his spin.  The first surgery on the aircraft carrier after the attack had been rudimentary at best, removing the pieces posing the most danger to his internal organs and stopping the bleeding.  The rest was up to her.

            Four surgeries and a month and a half later, she had dared to hope that Steve would make it through all of this.  He hadn’t gained feeling or movement in his legs yet, but she felt it was only a matter of time.  With each surgery, the paralysis had dissipated a little more until he was able to fully function except for his legs.  It was like playing Operation with a bomb, gently trying to maneuver each piece of metal out of his body without causing more damage to his spine or nerves.  But she felt she could do it; felt she could remove most of the shrapnel so he could walk again.  The last time that she’d tried to remove a piece of shrapnel resting against his lumbar vertebrae, he’d started to bleed out and she’d had to get out quickly.  The last pieces were two large shards of metal that were sitting up snug against his lower spine, compressing the nerves and sitting dangerously close to an artery.  If she could get them out, she was sure Steve would regain function.

            That’s why she’d asked Kono to start working on Steve’s legs.  The shrapnel was settling away from the spine, enough so that Dr. Waincroft thought one more surgery should do it.  But she wanted to make sure that Steve was strong enough, physically, to handle another surgery and to be able to work his own legs when the time came.  Unfortunately that hadn’t gone quite the way she had hoped it would.  After she’d talked to both Kono and Mak, she was even more worried about Steve than before.  Just when it looked like he was turning a corner, Steve slid back into a slump once again.

            Taking one more deep breath, Dr. Waincroft steps through the doorway and puts on her best smile.  “Good evening, Steven.  How are we tonight?”  She pretends to flip through the chart as she comes into the room, but keeps her eyes glued to Steve’s back.  He never once moves and she lets the smile slip from her face.  “Not hungry again tonight?”

            She nudges the tray table out of the way and comes around to sit in a chair next to Steve.  He barely flicks his gaze over to her before he is staring out the window once again.  “I know you don’t need another lecture on eating properly, Steven, I’ve given you it enough already.  So why aren’t you eating?”

            This time, Steve does look over at her, meeting her gaze straight on.  He looks tired, eyes bloodshot and skin pale, but he also looks annoyed.  “Would you eat that?” he asks quietly, daring her to answer him honestly.

            Taking the challenge, Malia lifts the lid off the dinner tray and tris her best not to wince.  It’s a hamburger, if you dared call it that.  It is little more than a pale, greasy patty on a roll with only a single limp piece of lettuce to act as a topping and a mound of cold rice and vegetables.  Steve is right, it does not look appetizing at all, but nevertheless, she isn’t going to let him know that.  Instead she shrugs her shoulders.  “I’d at least try it first before turning it down.”

            There is a flash of annoyance in Steve’s eyes and she can’t suppress her smile.  Any emotion from him at this point is good, at least he is feeling _something_.  She stares him down for a minute before she shakes her head and reaches into the pocket of her scrubs.  She pulls out a protein bar and deposits it on his lap with a sigh. “You can’t live off those forever, Steve.  You have to eat real food sometime.”

            Steve picks up the bar and glances at it, nodding a silent thanks to Malia as he gently gets the wrapper open and tears off a chunk.  She watches in silence for a minute to make sure he is really going to eat it before she decides to plow ahead.  This conversation isn’t going to be easy to have and won’t get any easier if she tries to avoid it.

            “Steve, I got a call today from a detective from the Honolulu PD,” she starts, then stops when Steve’s entire body freezes.  He cuts his eyes over to her and she is heartbroken by the trepidation she sees there.  “They have some questions about your father’s case and wanted to know if they could come in and talk to you.  I told them that I’d need to clear you first, to make sure it was something you could handle.  I know this is hard for you, but do you think you’re up to talking to them in a few days?”

            Malia isn’t sure what kind of reaction she was expecting, but it surely isn’t for Steve to sit up straighter in his wheelchair like he is trying to snap to attention.  His face is completely blank except for a cold determination that comes over his eyes.  “Yes,” he answers firmly, “I want to talk to them.  As soon as possible.”

            Relieved, Malia nods her head and stands up.  She lays a hand on Steve’s arm and smiles gently down at him.  “Okay, I’ll call them tomorrow and set up a time.”  She gives his arm a squeeze before she moves off towards the door.  After a second’s hesitation, she turns back towards him.  “Finish that bar tonight, but I want to see all of your breakfast eaten tomorrow.  Are we clear, soldier?” It comes out sounding more like a mother chastising her child than an order from a drill sergeant, but she knows Steve well enough to know that he would obey her. 

            Steve’s only response is a quick nod of his head.  Satisfied for now, Dr. Waincroft leaves the room, smiling sadly up at Mak as she passes him.  They still had a ways to go.

            

            When Danny pulls into the parking lot of Tripler, he finds Chin sitting on the curb next to his motorcycle flipping through a small notepad.  He looks up when Danny parks his car next to him and quickly climbs to his feet.  He and Danny had both taken the day off, Danny giving Meka a complete line of bullshit about a contractor visiting the house when his partner had gotten too nosy.  The truth was though, that they both knew this wasn’t going to be easy, talking to McGarrett’s son, and were sure that whatever information he had, it would blow the case wide open.  Danny wanted to make sure they had enough time to start running down any leads that would crop up.

            “Dr. Waincroft is expecting us,” Chin says as meets Danny.  “She’ll meet us and escort us to Steve’s room.  She wants to be present for a few minutes to make sure he’s okay before we continue with questioning.”

            Danny nods along and enters the building a step behind Chin.  At the front desk, the guard gives them both a not to subtle once over as they both hand over their badges for inspection and sign in.  After a moment, he hands them back their IDs along with visitor’s passes and gruff instructions that they’re to be worn at all times.  He then directs them down the hall to find Dr. Waincroft.

            Danny’s not sure what he’s expecting, but its certainly not the pretty tan-skinned woman with a shock of dark curls leaning against the nurses station writing in a chart.  Upon their approach, she turns to them, slides her glasses to the top of her head and gives them both a warm smile.

            “Hi, you must be the detectives?” Her gaze is split between the two of them, but she definitely lingers on Chin a lot longer than she does on Danny. 

            Danny does his best not to feel too affronted and nods, sticking his hand out first.  “Yeah, Detective Danny Williams.  And this is Officer Chin Ho Kelly,” he adds smiling the slightest at the side-eye Chin gives him.

            “Well, it’s a pleasure to meet you both.  I’m Dr. Malia Waincroft, I’m Steve’s attending physician here.”  Dr. Waincroft closes up the chart and hands it over the desk to the nurse and motions for them to follow her.  “I really appreciate you agreeing to let me stay with Steve during the questioning.  He’s had a hard enough time recently and this is only going to make it worse, I fear.” 

            “I thought you were a neurologist, not a psychologist,” Danny mentions.  He doesn’t mean to offend her, but given the dark look that passes over her face, he missed his mark.  “I mean no disrespect here or anything, doctor.  Just curious,” he quickly covers and has to fight the urge to elbow Chin in the ribs when he sees the bastard laughing quietly into his hand.

            Dr. Waincroft nods her head and stops their progress just outside the rec room.  “I am a neurologist,” she explains quietly.  “But working here, you have to be a bit of both, medical doctor and therapist.  The men and women here, they’ve all been to hell and back and it’s not necessarily the physical injury that hurts the most.”

            Danny glances around the rec room at the soldiers.  There are men and women in wheelchairs, with missing or bandaged limbs, with scars and haunted eyes.  For a minute he’s awestruck with how much they all must’ve seen and experienced, with how much they’ve all lost and still keep going.  He thinks about Grace’s ‘Super Steve’ and how one little girl has turned his world around.  He gets it, what Dr. Waincroft means, and nods apologetically.

            She must recognize his sincerity and smiles slightly.  “All right, let’s get this over with then, shall we?”

            When they walk into Steven McGarrett’s room, Danny is once again not sure what he expects to see, especially given all the injuries he’s seen just on the way to his room.  But he’s not expecting to see a guy sitting in a wheelchair looking for all the world like a completely healthy guy except for a scar on his forehead and the IV port in his arm.  The guy’s head snaps up as they enter the room and Danny watches as his posture changes dramatically from relaxed to guarded.  He eyes them with an intense gaze as they enter and never breaks from them even as Dr. Waincroft steps forward.

            “Steve, these are two detectives from Honolulu PD.  They need to ask you some questions.”  She lays her hand on Steve’s shoulder as she speaks, seating herself on the chair next to him.  “Think you’re up for it?”

            Steve nods silently, eyeing Chin with a curious look.  When his eyes flick to Danny, his gaze is calculating and Danny has to fight the urge to fidget.  Instead, he starts to step forward and introduce himself when Chin beats him to it.

            “Steve, I don’t if you remember me, but my name is Chin Ho-”

            “Kelly.” Steve finishes in a raspy, quiet voice.  Recognition lights in his eyes and he smiles slightly.  He sticks out his hand and shakes Chin’s.  “You were my dad’s partner for a few years, before I went to the mainland,” he adds, face devoid of any emotion.

            “Yeah.  You’re dad was a great man, Steve.  I miss him very much.  I would’ve come see you before this, but I had no idea what had happened.”  Chin takes a seat in the chair nearest him as he speaks.  He smiles sympathetically at Steve then glances over to Danny as if just remembering he was there.  “This is the detective that was originally put on your father’s case, Steve.”

            “Originally?” He asks curiously, tearing his gaze away from Chin to eye Danny once again.

            “Yeah, originally.  Detective Danny Williams,” Danny holds out his hand as he introduces himself, then takes a seat on the only open surface available, Steve’s bed.  “Your father’s case was declared a cold case about 7 weeks ago, 3 weeks after his death.  There were only a few leads to begin with and they ran dry pretty quickly.  The Chief of Police had no choice but to declare it a cold case and reassign me to new cases.”  Danny shifts uncomfortably having to tell a family member such news, but he quickly regains his composure.

            “So you have some whereabouts on Hesse?  Is that why you’ve reopened it?” Steve asks and watches as Danny and Chin share a glance between them.

            “Hesse?” Chin asks.

            “Victor Hesse.  The man who killed my father.”  Steve clarifies.

            Danny quickly scribbles the name down and mentally runs through all the names that have come up, but that name doesn’t ring a bell.  “Who is Victor Hesse?  How do you know he’s the one who killed your father?”

            “Victor Hesse, and his younger brother Anton, are international arms dealers and smugglers.  I spent the last five years overseas tracking them down.” Steve informs them matter-of-factly.  He watches them as they quickly scribble down notes and grits his teeth in irritation.  “You didn’t know any of this?”

            “No Steve, we had no idea.” Chin placates quickly.  “When the call came into dispatch, we only had the barest of details.  We were told you were on a classified mission overseas and that events had led you to believe your father’s life was in danger and requested HPD be sent to his house.  By the time HPD arrived, they found your father’s body.”  Chin swallows thickly around the sudden emotion in his voice.       

            “What happened that day?”  Danny questions, giving Chin a moment to compose himself.  “Why did you believe your father’s life was in danger?”

            “He called me,” Steve states simply, looking away from the detective in front of him to stare out the window.  “My team had just apprehended Anton Hesse from one of his known hideouts.  We were on our way to a military base when I received a call from my father’s cellphone.  My father and I … we hadn’t spoken in a long time so the fact that he was calling me was unusual.  But it wasn’t my father on the other end of the line; it was Victor Hesse.  He had my father.  He was demanding that I release his brother or he’d kill my father.  That’s when I requested HPD.”

            Steve wipes a hand across his face and looks back up at Danny, eyes bloodshot and haunted as he recalls the events.  “It was just a set up though, something to keep me occupied.  Our convoy was attacked.  The lead truck blew up and the tail vehicle ended up boxing my truck in.  A team of men, trained soldiers, was dropped in by helo and started opening fire on the trucks.   In the middle of everything, I had Victor Hesse screaming at me in one ear to surrender his brother and I was fighting to keep track of everything that was happening. 

            “Anton Hesse was killed in the crossfire and when Victor found out, he killed my father.  I heard the shot,” Steve’s voice breaks on the last word and he drops his face into his hands, shuddering in a deep breath.  Dr. Waincroft reaches out a hand and lays it on Steve’s back while Chin gently squeezes Steve’s wrist.  After a moment, Steve regains his composure and looks up at Danny again.

            “I tried to call in for support, but the radio in our truck was shot to shit.  I had just gotten back out of the truck when it blew.  Next thing I knew, I was waking up from a medically induced coma on an aircraft carrier in the middle of the Pacific two weeks later.”  He scrubs a hand across his face and clears his throat quietly, glancing at Dr. Waincroft in desperation.

            “I think that’s enough for today, gentlemen.” Dr. Waincroft announces immediately, standing up next to Steve and keeping her hand on his shoulder.  “I need a word with you gentlemen, I’ll be right out.”

            Danny and Chin both nod and move to leave.  Something compels Danny to turn back around though and he reaches his hand out again.  “I’m really sorry about your father, Commander.  I’m going to do everything I can to get that bastard behind bars.”  Danny is surprised when Steve meets his eyes and nods his head, murmuring a quiet thank you.  On his way out, Danny notices a few drawings taped to the walls of Steve’s room and wonders who brought them since he knows Steve doesn’t have any children, or nieces and nephews.  He’s opening his mouth to ask when he realizes that it’s really none of his business.  Without a word, he slips quietly out of the room.

Go to:  [MASTERPOST](http://sylvanelfqueen.livejournal.com/402092.html)   Go to :  [ART POST](http://acme-graphics.livejournal.com/40619.html)

  



	3. Chapter 3

**Through the Darkness – Part Three**  
 **Fandom:**   Hawaii Five-0  
 **Pairing:**   Steve/Danny (pre-slash)  
 **Rating:**   PG-13

  
  


            Once they are out of sight, Dr. Waincroft gives Steve’s shoulder a gentle squeeze and turns to face him.  “You okay, Steve?”  When he just shakily nods his head, Malia sighs and kneels down in front of him.  She grasps both of his hands in hers and is surprised to feel him grip back.  “Lunch will be around soon.  Eat and then get some rest before the kids come, okay?  You’ve had a rough day.” 

            Steve nods again, surer this time, and it’s enough to make the anxious feeling in her gut start to fade.  “Okay then.  I’ll be in to check up on you later.”  With one final squeeze, she releases Steve and makes her way out to the hallway.

            The two detectives are standing a respectful distance away from Steve’s room and talking quietly between themselves.  Whatever Steve told them must’ve really opened up the case, she thinks, judging by their hurried movements.  When they see her coming though, they quickly shut up and turn to face her anxiously.

            “I’m sorry I had to cut it off so soon, but you understand just how hard this is for him,” Malia states, eyeing them both.

            “No, it’s fine,” Danny answers quickly.  “He was a great help.  Thank you for letting us talk to him.”  Danny hesitates for a moment before sighing and handing over a card.  “If he thinks of anything else or has any questions, that’s my cell number.  Officer Kelly’s is on the back.  Please don’t hesitate to call one of us.”

            Malia takes the card and slips it in her pocket and nods at them, shaking their hands.  “Will do.  Thank you detectives.”

            When Grace comes skipping up to his side today, Steve can’t help but smile up at her.  She’s a very welcome reprieve from chatter inside his head.  It still amazes him that she’s choosing to hang out with him instead of one of the other soldiers, but today he is extremely grateful.  “Hi Grace.”

            “Hi Super Steve!” Grace chirps with a smile, sitting right down in the chair next to him just like the two weeks before.  Even though Steve’s smiling at her, she pauses and looks at him thoughtfully, like she can read the sadness in his eyes.  It only lasts a moment though and then her eyes light up and she giggles.  “Guess what I have?!”

            He’s caught a little off guard but manages a quick shrug of his shoulders and a quiet, “What?”  Steve’s expecting her to pull out a toy or a game or maybe even a drawing from school to show off, but he never expects her to pull out a little plastic bag with two cookies in it.

            “Danno and I made them last night, but I didn’t eat them with my lunch,” Grace leans over and whispers conspiratorially to him.  She snakes one cookie out of the bag and hands it to him.  “They’re chocolate chip!”

            Steve smiles warmly at her and even though he’s not hungry in the least bit, he takes a bite out of it.  It’s worth it to see Grace’s infectious smile stretch even wider.  She giggles and takes a bite out of the other cookie.  Before he even realizes it, Steve’s eaten the whole cookie and is surprised that he actually enjoyed it. 

            “That was good.  Thanks,” Steve murmurs.  He huffs out a little laugh as he watches Grace lick the chocolate from her fingers.

            “Having a little mid-day snack, are we?”  Mak ask from behind them and Grace blushes, suddenly shy.

            “Just a chocolate chip cookie,” she murmurs, turning cautiously to look up at Mak.

            For his part, Mak just laughs as he sets down the assortment of paper and the boxes of crayons and markers.  “Not a problem, kiddo.  You must have the magic touch though, because Super Steve here hardly ever eats!” 

            When Grace just looks at him in disbelief, Steve just shrugs, not knowing how to explain to an 8 year old that he’d rather eat MREs than the food the hospital is trying to feed him.  Grace doesn’t seem too bothered by his silence though, just turns back to Mak with a determined look on her face.  
  
            “So it’s okay that Steve had a cookie before dinner?”  She asks seriously.

            “More than okay, Grace.  If you can get Steve here to eat, its great,” Mak assures her, giving her pigtail a little tug .  “You two have fun now.”

            Once Mak is gone, Steve reaches out for a piece of paper and a crayon.  Both of his therapists, Kono and Keoni, have been urging him to draw or write since they found out that’s what Grace does when she comes.  They said it would be good for his motor skills, which were still a bit shaky after the concussion.  Up until now though, he’d had no interest.  Today he wants to try.  So while Grace is finishing her cookie, Steve starts mindlessly sketching.  His hands a bit shaky at first, the lines jagged and crooked, but after a moment it settles down and the lines turn smooth.

            “What’s that?” Grace asks, peering over his arm.

            “ _Kauhale_ ,” Steve murmurs down at his rough sketch of the islands of Hawaii.  When he looks at Grace and sees her confusion, he tries again.  “ _Kauhale._   It means home.”

            Grace’s eyes light up at that, then tries to repeat it.  It takes a few tries before the word rolls off her tongue right, but she beams up at Steve when she says it right.  “I don’t know too many Hawaiian words,” she confesses, picking out a piece of paper.  “Danno doesn’t know any either.  Just _haole_ , cause that’s what everyone at school used to call me.”

            “Me too,” Steve says, smiling over at her.

            He watches her draw in silence for a minute before he points to the ocean taking up the background of her new picture.  “ _Moana_ ,” he states.  “Ocean.”  Steve takes a piece of paper and a blue marker and scrawls both of the words down for her.  Grace repeats the word a few times as she’s drawing then points to the sky.

            “How do you say sky?”

            “ _Lani_.”  Steve writes it out for her and shows it to her.  Grace tries it out and once again has it rolling off her tongue in only a few tries.  She smiles at Steve and continues to point to part of her drawing.  Steve writes each new word down as he says them. 

            When she’s finished, Grace holds up the picture, brandishing it proudly.  “Last night Danno helped me build a sandcastle.  It was almost as tall as my waist!”  Grace points to the picture of her standing next to an exaggeratedly tall sandcastle.  On the other side stands a blonde man in a blue bathing suit that Steve assumes is ‘Danno’.  “When I looked at it this morning, it was still there!  We’re gonna build some more tonight because it doesn’t have a moat.  Danno says not all castles have moats but mine needs one.”

            Steve chuckles quietly at how matter-of-fact she is.  He points to the man in the picture and says, “ _Makuak_ _āne_.  Father,” then points to Grace’s picture of herself and says, “ _Kaikamahine_.  Daughter.”  He writes them both down for her, then thinks twice and starts writing another word.  “ _Kalake_ ,” he says.  “Grace.”

            Grace beams up at him and repeats the name proudly.  She pulls the list of words closer, then glances back up at him.  “How do you say happy?”

            Steve thinks on it for a moment.  “ _Hau’oli_.”  He writes it down for her then hands back the paper.  He watches curiously as she picks up a marker and starts writing the word down on her picture, just underneath the sandcastle.

            “Happy,” Grace repeats as she hands the picture over to Steve.  She’s smiling at him, so proud of herself. 

            Steve takes the picture and stares at her in wonder.  “Thank you, Grace.”  He’s not sure where to go from here, but he doesn’t have to worry about it because Grace starts cleaning up the papers.  It’s only then that Steve realizes that all the other kids are cleaning up as well.  He’s surprised when Grace carefully folds the list of words and tucks in into her backpack.  She stands next to him awkwardly for a moment before she quickly throws her arms around his neck and hugs him.  Steve’s shocked and can only manage a to give her a quick pat on the back before she’s pulling away.

            “Bye, Steve!” She beams one last smile at him before she takes off after the rest of her class.

          

            Steve’s staring down at his toes when Grace comes bounding over the next week.  Before she’s even close to him she’s already calling out for him, a chipper “Hey Super Steve” that makes the nurses and teachers smile sweetly at her.  Steve jerks his head around to face her and can feel a sunny smile break out on his face when she comes up to him.

            “Hey Gracie,” he greets her, not as surprised as the last time to be on the receiving end of her hugs.

            “Guess what Danno and I made last night?” Grace doesn’t even give him a chance to guess before she’s sliding her backpack off her shoulders and producing a bag of cookies.  She holds it up proudly in front of Steve.  “Chocolate Chip!  Our favorite!”

            It’s not a small bag like the one she brought before.  No, this time it’s a large bag with at least six cookies in it.  Written in neat little letters on the front label reads:  “Super cookies for Super Steve”.  Steve chuckles and accepts the proffered gift.  Without hesitation, he breaks open the bag and doles out a cookie to Grace and keeps one out for himself. 

            “Thanks Grace.  I’ll save the rest for later,” he takes a bite and winks at Grace conspiratorially as he sees Mak making his way over with their art supplies.

            Mak makes his usual enthusiastic greeting to Grace, giving her a quick fist bump for bringing the cookies and snagging one for himself before moseying off again.  Once Mak is out of sight, Steve looks over at Grace.  “Want to see something?” he asks her.  When she nods excitedly, he unlocks his wheelchair and pushes himself away from the table a bit.

            Steve points down to his feet and then slowly lifts his left foot off the footrest.  Grace’s eyes grow wide in wonder as she watches as Steve does the same with his right foot.  His right leg is shaking by the time it makes it to the ground and he’s broken out in a sweat, but he’s got both of his feet on the ground.  He looks up at Grace and watches as her eyes dazzle with excitement.  She squeals and claps her hands and all but launches herself at him, hugging him tightly.

            Steve huffs out a surprised laugh, but this time is able to return the hug with one arm.  “Pretty cool, huh?” he gets out between rough breaths.  He’d done it for the first time in therapy today and while Kono had told him not to push it, Steve just had to make sure he could still do it.  So all day he kept moving his feet.  Feeling wasn’t back all the way, it felt a bit like his legs were still asleep, but he could move them. 

            “Definitely cool,” Grace beams, sitting back in her chair and glancing between his feet and Steve a few times with a grin on her face.  “Does that mean you can walk again?” 

            Her question is so painfully innocent that it shocks a pain straight through Steve’s chest.  He swallows thickly before he’s able to answer her.  “Not yet.  But if I keep exercising them I will.”

            “And eating like he’s supposed to,” Mak chimes in as comes to a stop next to them.  “Showing off for the little lady again, Steve?”

            Grace giggles in delight but Steve just shrugs his shoulders. 

            “Well I don’t want to interrupt you anymore, just want to see if Super SEAL here needed a hand.”

            Steve just shakes his head.  “No, thanks Mak.  I think I’ll keep my feet down for a while.”  Steve unlocks the wheelchair and once again pushes himself back up to the table, socked feet dragging tiredly along the floor as he moves.

            “Well all right then.  Have fun you two!”  Mak disappears with a smirk in Grace direction that has her laughing again.   

            It takes a few minutes before the she asks the question Steve had been expecting.  “Why did Mak call you a seal?” she asks, like Mak was being absolutely ridiculous.  “You’re not an animal.”

            Steve can’t help the laugh that escapes.  “No.  No I’m not.”  Grace looks up from her drawing then and watches him curiously until he answers her.  “Well you know I’m a soldier in the Navy,” he starts and watches as Grace nods along.  “I’m part of a special group of soldiers called SEALs.  It stands for Sea, Air, and Land,” he explains, not sure how detailed he should get.

            Grace, though, seems pacified with the answer and nods her head again.  “Okay.”  She goes back to coloring for a minute before she pauses again.  “So can I call you Super SEAL too?”

            “Sure you can,” Steve reassures her and watches as she smiles happily up at him before her attention goes back to her drawing.  Steve peers over her arm and watches for a few minutes as her crayon skips back and forth across the paper and smiles as she starts chattering along about her upcoming class trip to the zoo and how her castle from last week finally fell down after the rain storm over the weekend and how Danno finally bought her the Tangled DVD so she can watch it all the time now because it’s her favorite movie.

            As she’s chattering along, Steve takes a piece of paper and starts sketching mindlessly.  He smiles along and adds the appropriate comments to her side of the conversation, but mostly he just listens and tries to absorb her enthusiasm. 

            Their time is up too soon it seems and they find themselves once again exchanging drawings.  Grace hands him a picture of a seal dressed like a superhero with a cape and eye mask and a simple caption of “Super Seal” under it.  Steve laughs, but quickly thanks her, then slides over his own card.  On the front is a plate heaped full of chocolate chip cookies.  When Grace flips it open she starts laughing.  On the side is an empty plate with crumbs and the words “Thanks for the cookies” in Steve’s blocky scrawl.  She tucks the card in her backpack and gives him one last smile before she starts to head off with her classmates.

            “Aloha Super Seal!”

            Steve smiles at her retreating back.  “Aloha Gracie.”

            Scrawling his name across the last line, Danny flips closed yet another burglary case and drops it on top of the rest in the stack.  He glances across the bullpen and sees Meka laughing and joking with some of the other detectives.  He has to turn away before they catch him rolling his eyes in annoyance.  Meka is a good guy and Danny considers him a friend, but it irks him that Meka seems so lackadaisical about everything.  He could care less that Cap is just searching for a reason to bust them both back down to traffic cops. 

            Meka is a good detective.  He’s got good instincts.  All the other detectives in the department do as far as that is concerned, but they all had the same moseying attitude towards cases.  When Danny had first moved to the island, he thought that was just how they operated.  Now though, Danny’s been working with Chin, Chin who is an all work, nose to the grindstone until the case is solved kinda guy, and he can’t help but compare the two.  Meka could be a great detective if he just worked harder, Danny can’t help but think.  So it irks him tremendously when he sees Meka goofing off instead of signing files.

            Danny’s phone chirps on the desk and he snatches it up quickly, seeing Chin’s familiar number popping up on screen.  It’s a text message.  He hesitates for only a moment, making sure no one else is around to read it, before he opens it.

            _‘Shrimp truck.  20 minutes.  You want to hear this.’_

            Huffing in annoyance, Danny is considering his options when his voice is barked out from across the bullpen.

            “Williams!  Where are you on the-”

            Seeing Cap’s angry face storming towards him, Danny closes the phone and grabs up the files instead.  He stands up, making it two steps before the Captain is up in his face.

            “Right here, sir.  Just waiting for Meka’s signature.”  Danny pushes the folders into the other man’s hands.  He hesitates for a minute before he grabs his phone and keys off the desk.  Not waiting for a response, Danny steps around the Captain and makes his way towards the exit.  He can feel the heavy weight of all their eyes on his back, but Danny just snaps his spine straighter and walks out, not looking back.

            “Wasn’t sure you were gonna make it,” Chin remarks as Danny gets out of the car.

            Danny glances over at him in annoyance, leaning against his bike like he’d been waiting all day for Danny’s arrival.  Even in the roasting afternoon sun Chin manages to look cool and comfortable in jeans and t-shirt.  Danny wipes an arm across his forehead and unbuttons another button on his dress shirt and glares at Chin.  “I’m only 5 minutes late.  Not bad considering you gave me zero notice.  The precinct is 20 minutes away and I actually had to work today, unlike some of us.”

            If it comes across as bitchy, Chin doesn’t take it that way.  He just cracks a smile and stands up, taking the lead as they walk towards the shrimp truck.

            “What’d Shamu have to say?”

            Chin cocks an eyebrow at the nickname, but doesn’t comment on it.  He shakes his head and looks about as anxious as he ever looks.  “He wouldn’t say over the phone, just that I needed to get the _haole_ cop and get down here a.s.a.p.”  Chin jerks his shoulders in a half shrug as they come up to the window.

            “And what can I get for you two fine gentlemen?” Kamekona bellows, a large smile on his face

            “Nothing, big man.  Just some answers,” Danny replies, a bit annoyed. 

            “Sure, sure.  But how about trying my new shrimp plate?”  Kame gestures to a sign depicting his newest concoction of shrimp and spice and fruit, something Danny wouldn’t touch with a ten-foot pole.

            “Uh, no.  None for me, big man.  But maybe Chin …”

            Chin quickly shakes his head.  “No.  Late lunch.  Maybe next time though, Kame.”

            Kamekona shrugs his shoulders and slides the window closed, hanging the “Closed” sign in the window.  He lumbers around the side of the trailer a minute later and gestures to the vacant picnic tables scattered around the area.  His eyes skip around the people milling around the area, like he’s watching and waiting for something or someone to come after him.  His unease sets Danny on edge and has him leaning across the table.

            “Who are you looking for?” He pitches his voice low in case they are being watched.

            Chin shifts uncomfortably, face set in a firm mask.  It’s gotten to him to.  Kame snaps his attention back to them and just shakes his head.  He slides a piece of paper across the table to Danny before snatching his hand back like he’d been burned.

            “Dis neva came from me, brah.  Dat’s his name.”  Kame murmured, eyes anywhere but on the two cops before him.  “Word on da streets is dat he’s still ‘round, still on da island.  He’s dangerous.”

            Danny takes a deep breathe and opens the paper.  He nods at the name scrawled there.  It just confirms what they already knew.  John McGarrett had been murdered by one half of the internationally wanted Hesse brothers.  Victor Hesse.  Danny slides the paper over to Chin and watches as a rare flash of rage crosses the stoic man’s face.  His jaw clenches, his eyes harden, and he quickly crumbles the paper in his fist.  It passes after a split second and he slides the piece of paper in a pocket.

            “Any word on where he is?”  Chin asks but Kamekona is quickly shaking his head.

            “No brah.  No one’s talkin’ ‘bout dat.”

            It makes sense, as frustrating as it is.  He’s a wanted criminal, all over the globe apparently, so he’s not going to just show his mug all around town waiting for the cops to swarm.  He’s smart.  He’s evaded Naval Intelligence, had them chasing him around the map for five years.  It’s no surprise that he slipped on the island quietly and went to ground right after the murder.  He’s probably just waiting for the right moment to slip back off the island.  Though four months is a long time to wait …

            “What about Doran?  Any word on his whereabouts?”  Danny asks quickly.  They need a connection to Hesse, however thin, to gain their footing and Doran is still their best bet.

            “Don’t know, braddah.  If he’s ‘round, he’s keepin’ quiet too.”  Kame sighs, as frustrated with his own lack of answers as the two cops before him.  “There is talk he’s still alive, though,” he adds as an after thought.  “But Hesse don’ like loose ends.  If he is alive, he won’t be for long.”

            Kamekona stands up from the table and nods to both of the detectives before making his way back over to his shrimp truck.  Danny runs a hand through his sweaty hair and sighs.  He cuts a glance to Chin and can see the other man’s frustration in his tense posture. 

            “Not much help,” Chin murmurs.  “We need a line on where he’s holed up.”

            “Or where Doran disappeared to.”  Danny adds.  He glances at his watch and moves to stand up.  “I gotta go pick up Gracie.”

            Chin nods and follows Danny across the lot towards his motorcycle.  “I have a few ideas of who Hesse could’ve used to disappear.  I’ll start running them down and let you know if anything pops.”  With that, Chin throws a leg over his bike and starts her with a roar.  He gives a small wave to Danny before he’s peeling out of the parking lot, Danny not far behind him.

            “Steve?” Gracie starts hesitantly.

            Steve is startled out of his own thoughts and realizes that he’d been staring out the window instead of drawing.  He turns to look at Grace and watches as she chews on her lip, contemplating him for a moment.  A small little crinkle forms in her brow and Steve tries to alleviate it with a smile.  “What’s on your mind, Gracie?”

            He tries for nonchalant, snapping his eyes back to the picture he’d started of the hibiscus growing in the garden.  Just as he starts reaching for another color crayon, Grace puts her crayon down.  When he looks up at her again, she looks determined.

            “Why do you always sit by this window?” Grace finally asks. 

            If it weren’t for the completely serious look on her face, Steve would be tempted to chuckle.  Instead, he finds himself smiley sadly at her and abandoning his pursuit of the perfect shade of orange.  He contemplates his answer for a minute, not quite sure how to explain it all to her.  Grace is a smart kid, that’s one thing he’s learned these last few weeks.  And she’s got a kind-soul, that he also knows.  So if Grace is asking him this, it’s because she honestly cares.  The least Steve can do is answer her honestly in return.

            “I miss being outside,” he tells her simply.  She frowns deeper and Steve finds himself struggling with the words to explain it to her.  “I haven’t been outside since I got hurt and I miss it.  I miss standing in the sunshine and feeling the breeze.”  Steve closes his eyes for a moment and tries to conjure up those feelings in his mind.  He can almost feel the sun kissing his skin.  “I miss the ocean and the sand too,” he whispers.

            “What do you miss the most?” Grace asks, reaching for a new sheet of paper

            Steve doesn’t even have to think twice about it.  “Sunsets.”  He smiles when Grace quickly nods and starts reaching for a crayon.  “When I was little, I always used to sit out in our yard and watch the sunset with my mom.  Even after I joined the Navy, I always tried to watch the sunset.  It made me feel closer to home, closer to my mom.”  His voice breaks off as a sudden swell of emotion overcomes him.  Up until this very moment, he hadn’t realized just how much he missed it.

            When he meets Grace’s gaze, she looks sad for a moment, like she knows everything Steve’s feeling without him even saying a word.  After a moment though, the sad look passes off her face and is quickly replaced by a smile as she continues to color.

            “Have you ever seen a dolphin, Steve?”  Grace switches up her purple crayon for a bright pink one as she is talking.  “Like a real one.  Up close,” she elaborates, watching Steve with excited eyes.

            “No, can’t say that I have.”  Steve finishes the last green leaf of his hibiscus with a flourish and turns to smile at Grace.  “I’d love to see one though.  Aren’t you and Danno going to the aquarium this weekend?” 

            Grace’s head bobs in excitement, her enthusiasm about dolphins completely eclipsing her drawing for a moment as she abandons the crayons and turns to face Steve fully.  “Yeah!  And there is a dolphin tank there where you can pet them.  And sometimes you can swim with them!  I asked Danno but he’s not sure if I can swim with them yet.”  She looks crestfallen at the thought of not being able to share the same water as the dolphins, but then her excitement picks up again.  “We have to make a project about our favorite animal and I want to make mine about dolphins but Tommy says they’re dumb.” 

            “Why would he say dolphins are dumb?  They’re very majestic creatures.”  Steve tries to reason, though he’s not sure why he wants to pick an argument with the logic of an eight-year-old boy.

            Grace seems completely affronted by this thought as well, nodding along with Steve.  “I don’t know.  He’s says they’re girly and lame.  He likes sharks because they eat people.”  Grace scoffs like his idea is the most absurd one in the world and Steve has to nod along in agreement.

            “Well that’s just a ridiculous reason to like an animal,” Steve declares, picking up a new piece of paper and hunting around in the pile for the mysterious gray crayon.           

            As he starts his new drawing, all sleek gray lines and blue water, Grace turns back to her vibrant colored sunset.  It’s been a while since he’s had to work so hard to conjure up an image in his mind and relay it to paper.  It was something he was always good at as a SEAL; he could recall pictures of maps and topography and quickly sketch them out with a stubby pencil and paper on a mission if need be.  Trying to call up a picture of a dolphin though, is a bit more difficult.  He is bound and determined to do it though, and make sure it looks good for Grace.

            “You know, dolphins are really intelligent creatures,” he starts, words slipping right out before he can even think about them.  Out of the corner of his eye, he can see he’s piqued Grace’s attention.  “They are probably one of the smartest animals out there.  They are strong too.  And brave.  And fierce.”

            At that, Grace’s head pops up.  “Fierce?” she questions.

            “Oh yeah.  Definitely fierce.”  Steve cocks his head down at his picture for a  moment before he switches up crayons.  “I’ve heard stories of dolphins charging at sharks to protect other dolphins in their pods or to protect people.  I’d say that’s pretty fierce, right?”  He looks up at her smiles at the wonder and excitement on her face.

            “Really?!”

            “Absolutely.  Tommy can call dolphins girly, but you make sure to tell him that his sharks turn tail and run when dolphins come after them!”

            Grace laughs at that and Steve is taken by just how contagious her smile, her laughter, her excitement, really is.  Sitting here with Grace, coloring and talking about dolphins and trips to the zoo and chocolate chip cookies, he feels a swell of contentment wash over him.  He’s more comfortable and relaxed here, in this moment, than he has been in a very long time.  Nothing can wipe the smile off his face as he and Grace continue to chat about dolphins, and other sea life, and draw.

            It isn’t until Mak comes up to them a while later that Steve realizes their time is up.  All the other kids are cleaned up and congregating around their teachers in the hallway, except Steve and Grace.  Up until Mak appeared, they had been engaged in a discussion about whales, completely oblivious to everything else around them.

            “Sorry guys but it’s time to get cleaned up,” Mak says apologetically as he quickly starts scooping up crayons into the container.  “Grace’s gotta get going home and Steve here needs to get to his room for dinner.”

            Grace’s face falls slightly, but she slides out of the chair obediently.  She roots around in her backpack for a moment before producing a bag of cookies and handing them off to Steve.  It’s becoming a tradition, it seems.  He smiles at her and hands over the pictures he drew for her, a large orange and pink hibiscus flower with shockingly green leaves crawling over the edges of the page and a large dolphin arching over bright blue water.  Grace’s smile is priceless when she looks at the dolphin.

            “It’s perfect, Super Steve!  Thank you!”  She clutches the picture to her chest like she’s hugging it before she shows it off to Mak.  With great care, Grace tucks it away in her homework folder and slips it into her backpack. 

            “This one is for you,” she murmurs quietly to Steve, so only the two of them can hear.  It’s a brightly colored sunset.  All vibrant pinks and oranges and purples fanning out around a cheerful yellow sun that is sinking into a pale blue ocean.  “Now you can look at a sunset every night,” she whispers.

            Steve’s too taken by the heartfelt meaning behind her words that he can’t quite form a response right away.  Instead, he smiles up at her and opens his arms.  Without hesitation, Grace closes the two steps between them and wraps her arms around his neck in a tight hug.  When she lets go, Steve’s swallowed enough of his emotions that he can clear his throat.  “Thank you Gracie, its beautiful.”

            “Bye, Super Steve,” she whispers a bit sadly.

            “Bye Grace.  See you next week!” A quick tug on her pigtail sets her smile back in place and Steve smiles back at her, watching her disappear out the door.

            “Kids really got to you, hasn’t she?”  Mak chirps up from behind Steve, having witnessed the whole exchanged.  He moves back to cleaning up the paper and art utensils, but keeps on eye on Steve the whole time.

            “Yeah, she has,” Steve murmurs, looking down at the sunset she drew and feeling a warmth settle in his chest that no sunset has been able to create in a very long time.

            “Williams,” Danny answers his phone, turning away from Meka’s prying eyes.

            “Danny, it’s Chin.  I got a call from the hospital, Steve needs to speak with us again.  He says it urgent.  Can you meet me there in 30?”

            Danny groans inwardly and glances at the clock on his computer just ticking passed 10 o’clock.  Meka will surely give him crap for cutting out right now, not to mention what Cap will have to say about it.  His mouth his opening to decline, to tell Chin to go and handle it on his own, but then he stops short.  Screw it, he thinks.  Finding McGarrett’s murderer and getting this Hesse character off the island is his priority right now, not the Johnson couple that swears the maid in their hotel stole their jewelry out of the safe.

            “Yeah, I’ll meet you there,” Danny answers briskly, ending the call.  He grabs up his keys and starts to stand when Meka’s voice pipes up from behind him.

            “Got another lead partner?”

            Danny freezes for a moment, paranoia taking over every cell of his body before he blows out a shaky breathe.  “No,” he answers calmly, turning to face Meka’s curious gaze.  “Nothing to do with our case.  Personal business.  I’ll be back in a few hours.  If you catch a lead, call me.”  With that, Danny strides out of the bullpen.

Go to:  [MASTERPOST](http://sylvanelfqueen.livejournal.com/402092.html)   Go to :  [ART POST](http://acme-graphics.livejournal.com/40619.html)

  



	4. Chapter 4

**Through the Darkness – Part Four**  
 **Fandom:**   Hawaii Five-0  
 **Pairing:**   Steve/Danny (pre-slash)  
 **Rating:**   PG-13

  
  


            Danny pulls his Camaro into Tripler’s parking lot 26 minutes later and is, for once, waiting for Chin when he arrives 10 minutes later.  Danny smirks when he sees Chin getting out of an HPD cruiser in full uniform.  “So you do actually work?  It’s nice to have the confirmation.”  He smirks at Chin’s slightly disgruntled look, but it eases out a moment later as they walk through the halls of the hospital.  Danny sees why a moment later when Dr. Waincroft comes into view at the nurse’s station.

            “Chin, Detectives Williams, thank you for coming on such short notice,” Dr. Waincroft greets them.

            _Chin?_ Danny quirks an eyebrow at Chin and is floored when he sees the slightest hint of color flush over the man’s cheeks.  The small smile that steals over his lips a moment later explains it all.

            “Malia, Steve said it was important.  We got here as quick as we could.  Is he in his room?”

            Danny’s eyes bounce back and forth between the two, feeling like he is intruding and too dumbfounded to really add anything useful to the conversation.  He watches as Dr. Waincroft, _Malia_ , nods and motions down the hall, telling them that he was just finishing up physical therapy and was waiting for them.  Chin smiles at her, thanking her for her help, before he is striding down the hall, Danny following mutely after him.

            “On a first name basis with the Doc?” Danny manages a moment later, well out of hearing range of said doctor.

            “Uh, yeah, kinda.” Chin answers evasively.  When Danny just quirks an eyebrow at him, Chin sighs and stops outside of Steve’s door.

            “I called the night after our interview with Steve.  I wanted to make sure he was handling it okay.  Malia and I got to talking and well … we’re just seeing where it goes.”

            Danny grins at him, nudging him in the shoulder in approval as he steps into Steve’s room.  Danny raps on the wall loudly, announcing their presence.  “Commander McGarrett?  It’s Detective Williams.”

            “Come on in,” a female voice answers.  Danny quirks an eyebrow at Chin in question but steps further into the room.  When they come around the corner, they see a slender woman in scrubs kneeling at Steve’s feet.  “We’re almost done and then I’ll be out of your way,” she says, not even looking up from where she is unstrapping ankle weights and tossing them in her bag.

            “All right, you’re all done for today.  Remember to ask Mak for the heat pack in a bit if you need it, all right?” 

            Steve nods his head, hands massaging his thighs absentmindedly.  The woman shakes her head and slings her bag over her shoulder, starting to turn their way.  “Hi I’m Kono-”  She stops short when she eyes them, or more specifically eyes Chin.  She stares at him, stunned, for a moment before her face breaks into a huge grin.

            “Chin!” she drops her bag to the ground and is pulling Chin into a hug before any of them can react.    “It’s so good to see you cuz!”

            When he’s released, Chin looks shell-shocked but a smile is curving up his face.  “Kono?  It’s been a long time.  Look at you!”  He holds her at arms length and gives her a once over, nodding in approval at what he sees.  “Last time I saw you, you were shredding up the waves.  Now you’re a nurse?”

            “Therapist,” she corrects.  “I’m this lug’s therapist.  Getting him back on his feet,” she declares proudly.  When she sees Danny standing there, once again awkwardly hanging on the outside of Chin’s conversations, she turns towards him.  “Hi, Kono Kalakaua.”

            “Danny Williams,” he offers, shaking Kono’s hand.  He’s so intrigued by her and her connection to Chin that he holds on to her hand a lot longer than necessary.  “Sorry,” he mutters, letting go.

            Kono, for her part, just chuckles.  “Well I better go, I have other patients to see.  But it was good to see you cuz!  We’ll have to hook up and catch a wave sometime.”  She gives Chin another, much shorter, hug and then is slipping out of the room with a wave over her shoulder.

            “Sorry about that,” Chin mutters, but the smile on his face tells a different story.  Even Steve is smirking up at him.  Chin just shrugs a shoulder.  “She’s my little cousin.  Haven’t seen her in a few years.  She’s all grown up now.”

            “She sure is,” Danny replies and holds up his hands innocently when Chin glares daggers at him.  “I’m just sayin’,” he mutters.  Then looks to Steve, suddenly remembering why they are here, and cuts the rest of his comment off.  Chin picks up on the mood change and the smile eases off his face as well.

            “Steve, Malia said you needed to talk to us about your father’s case, that it was important?”  Chin begins, taking up a seat in one of the chairs, dragging it closer to where Steve is, in his wheelchair by the window.  Danny takes up the chair next to Steve and pulls out his notepad.

            “Yeah,” he begins hesitantly.  “I’ve been doing some thinking and might have a lead you can chase down.  I’m a bit out of the loop on the case,” he eyes them pointedly, “but I figure that Hesse had to have had more than one contact on the island.”

            “Yeah, we think he hooked up with a known gun runner, Doran.  But he’s pulled a disappearing act so we haven’t been able to confirm that,” Danny recaps, not sure how much Steve remembers from their first conversation.

            Steve is nodding along.  “Yeah, he would’ve needed weapons, but he would’ve needed help before that.  He’s wanted in multiple countries for a variety of different crimes.  It’s not like he just walked into an airport and boarded a flight to Hawai’i.” Steve stresses, his fingers kneading his thigh again.  “He would’ve needed an alternate way on and off the island.”

            Chin and Danny both look at each other, eyes lighting up with realization.  This is what they had been missing.  Danny starts scribbling notes down as Chin picks up on the line of thought.

            “He would’ve needed someone who knew the island well enough to know how to get him in and out unnoticed.  Quick and quiet.” Chin thinks aloud.

            Silence descends over the three of them for a minute before they all come to the same conclusion.  “Smugglers” they say at the same time.

            Chin jumps up from his chair, phone already in hand as he moves a few steps away.  Danny and Steve watch him intently for a moment before Danny pulls his eyes away from the murmured conversation, already having a good idea of who would be Chin’s first call with this new piece of information.

            “Would Hesse reach out to a few different people for help, or would he stick with only one or two known contacts?” Danny asks, thinking once again about his disappearing act.

            “Hesse doesn’t trust a lot of people so he wouldn’t be working with too many people.  He doesn’t leave any loose ends either.  If he thinks they’re a liability, he won’t hesitate to take them out of the equation.” Steve states matter-of-factly.

            Danny nods and sighs heavily.  “We have a source that says he’s still on the island though no one knows where he is.”  Steve stiffens at that, looking up at Danny.  “Any idea of why he’d still be here?”

            “Either something went wrong with his plan to get off the island, or he has …” Steve closes his eyes and sighs heavily.

            A sickening feeling comes over Danny then, knowing exactly what Steve was going to say. “Or he has unfinished business here,” he finishes, cutting his eyes over to Chin who caught the tail end of their conversation.

            “Kame’s going to look into it and get back to us,” Chin states into the stilted silence that has descended over the room.

            Steve nods, but his attention is focused out the window.  Danny and Chin wait a few minutes, but it quickly becomes obvious that they have nowhere else to go with this discussion until they get a few names to chase down.  Chin puts his hand on Steve’s shoulder and gives it a quick squeeze.  “As soon as we find out anything else, Steve, we’ll let you know, all right?”

            Steve doesn’t say anything else, just nods his head and keeps his eyes glued to the window.

            Danny and Chin just make it out to the parking lot before Chin’s phone starts to ring.  When he glances down at the number, he quirks an eyebrow at Danny, showing him the number displayed on the screen.  _Kamekona_ , Danny thinks, suddenly anxious.  He’s not sure if Kame calling back so soon bodes well for them or not.  Danny motions to the Camaro, parked only a few feet away and Chin nods.  Once they’re in the car, Chin answers the call, putting it on speaker between the two of them.

            “Howzit brah?” Chin answers, voice belying none of the tension that Danny can feel rippling between them.  “You got a name already?”

            The other end of the line is quiet for a moment before Kamekona speaks hesitantly.  “I got more than a name brah.  I got you a meet if you want it.” 

            Danny and Chin exchange a look.  Danny shakes his head but Chin ignores it.  “Who is it?”

            “Sang Min.  He’s known for smuggling in girls from China for da trade, but he’ll smuggle anything for da right price.”

            “How’s this gonna work?  You’re a cop, Chin, and we’re on an island with less than a million people.  If you go in there, he’ll smell trap.”  Danny points out, stabbing an accusing finger at Chin.

            Chin sighs heavily, closing his eyes for a brief moment.  When he looks at Danny again a moment later, his lips are quirking with a smile, plan already formulating in his mind.  “Sure I’m cop, but I’m a dirty cop.”

            Danny looks confused for a moment before it dawns on him.  Kame is making noises of agreement.

            “Figured ya say dat,” Kame replies.  “I put word out dat ya need to move some merch off da islands.  Discreetly.  Meet’s in an hour.”

            Chin cuts a glance over to Danny, waiting for his answer.  They may not be partners officially, but they are in this together.  Danny knows if he protested, Chin would call it off and they’d find another way to get to Sang Min.  He sighs heavily, pinching the bridge of his nose.  It’s risky, he knows, but he also knows this is their best move.  Silently, he nods his head to Chin.

            “Text me the details.  And Kame, thanks.” Chin hangs up the phone and looks over at Danny, a small smile quirking up the corner of his lips.  “You ready for this?”

            “Do I really have a choice?”

           

“So what can I do for you, Chin Ho Kelly?”  Sang Min’s sitting behind the desk, smirking smugly at Chin.  He’s got his feet propped up on the desk, leaning casually back in the chair while three armed guards flank his guest.

            “I’m pretty sure you can guess,” Chin answers back haughtily.  He stands stock still between the guards, refusing to appear even the slightest bit uncomfortable.  He just hopes that the new laser audio mic Danny’s using can pick up the audio.  They only have one shot at this.  When Sang Min frowns at him, Chin kicks the attitude down a notch.  “I’ve got some … things that I need moved off the island discreetly.  Word around the street is that you’re the best.”

            “Your reputation precedes you, Officer Kelly.” 

            If Sang Min is trying to bait him, he’ll have to try a hell of a lot harder than that.  Chin barely blinks at the title, staring straight ahead at the man with a blank face.  Sang Min’s irritation is visible as he slides his legs off the desk and sits up in his chair, glaring.

            “I don’t work with cops, even dirty ones.  Don’t trust ‘em.”  Sang Min answered, still glaring intently at Chin.

            _“Because criminals are so much more trustworthy!”_ Danny’s annoyed tone rumbles through Chin’s ear and he has to fight back a smile.  He’s glad the earpieces are working though, and that Danny is with him, can hear everything that’s going on.  It was definitely worth the risk.  _“He’s not gonna bite, Chin.  Time for plan b.”_

            Chin shifts his position, sliding one foot forward slightly, never taking his eyes off of Sang Min.  “That’s all right, didn’t need you to trust me,” he murmurs.  Sang Min frowns and the guards around him shift nervously.  “I just need you to be able to talk,” he smirks as a loud crash sounds from behind them.

            A HPD cruiser comes crashing through the warehouse doors behind them.  Taking advantage of their distraction, Chin throws an elbow into one guard’s gut and smashes his fist into another’s jaw.  By the time they recover, Danny’s out of the car, gun drawn coming towards them.  One guard gets brave and starts to reach for his piece and ends up on floor with a bullet in his shoulder, courtesy of Danny, before he can fully draw the weapon.  Chin kicks away his gun and throws a fist into the other guard’s face, knocking him out cold.  The third guard takes off and Danny lets him go, training his gun on Sang Min who’s hunch over the desk searching for his own weapon.

            “Don’t even think about it,” Danny barks, cautiously advancing on him  with Chin a step behind.

            He doesn’t listen though, pulling out a gun and squeezing off a few rounds in their general direction.  Danny and Chin both duck quickly, but refuse to retreat.  Danny peers around the chair he’s using for cover and pulls the trigger, clipping Sang Min in the hand.  The other man curses, dropping the gun in favor of grabbing his bleeding palm.  With the gun out of the equation, Danny and Chin close the distance on him.

            Chin gives Sang Min a shove in the chest, knocking him back in the chair.  Danny keeps his gun trained on the smuggler as Chin winds the man’s hands through the arms of the chair, handcuffing them behind him.  Once he’s secure, Danny holsters his gun and leans against the desk with Chin and eyes up the man before them.

            “I don’t know why he hasn’t been caught before now,” Danny crosses his arms over his chest, feigning nonchalance as he glances over at Chin.  “Wasn’t all that hard.”

            Chin cracks a smile at Danny’s wiseass remark and nods along.  “I agree.  Though I doubt anyone else would’ve been as creative.” 

            “What do you want?” Sang Min demands, though it’s hard to take him seriously when he winces in pain.

            “Victor Hesse.”  Danny answers back, all business once again.

            Sang Min’s eyes grow wide and terrified for a moment before he tries to mask it with a scoff.  “Good luck with that.  I think I’d like to go to jail now.”

            Danny glances over at Chin and shares a look.  He shrugs his shoulder once before he turns back to Sang Min, pulling out his phone.  “I thought you might say something like that so I got us a little insurance policy in case you decided to take the stupid route.”  He flicks through his phone for a moment before he turns the screen to Sang Min, watching with as the smug look falls quickly off the criminal’s face.  Sang Min pales, swallowing thickly at the images on the screen.

            “Recognize them?” Chin asks, pushing away from the desk to stand next to Danny, forming a formidable wall in front of the smuggler.  Sang Min opens his mouth, but no words come out.

            “Yeah, thought you might.”  Danny pulls the phone away for a minute, looking at the screen.  “Your wife and kid are in HPD custody right now and all it’ll take is one call for INS to swoop in and extradite them out of the country.”

            “Your wife’s from Rwanda, isn’t she?” Chin asks, feigning curiosity.  “They’ll both be sent back there.”

            “I’m not sure what’ll happen to your wife, but I’m pretty sure in the eyes of the militia, your son is old enough to become a soldier.”  Danny shoves the phone back in Sang Min’s face, a picture of his wife and son’s smiling faces staring back at him.  “Is that what you want for him?!”

            “What do you want?” Sang Min whispers again, looking startled when Danny takes the phone away.

            “We told you,” Chin answers.  “Victor Hesse.”

            “We know you smuggled him onto the island.  We want his whereabouts.”

            When Sang Min hesitates, Chin leans down, giving the chair a small shove so it’s firmly planted against the wall.  Sang Min squirms as his arms get trapped between the wall and the chair.  He looks up Chin with worried eyes.  “You are going to jail, that part isn’t up for discussion.  What happens to your family, however, is up to you.” Chin whispers, anger evident in his face.  “You give us what we want and your wife and kid go free, no harm, no foul.  But if you refuse …” Chin trails off and let’s Sang Min put the pieces together.

            “I don’t know where he is,” Sang Min answers shakily after a moment.  When Danny and Chin scoff, he’s quick to shake his head.  “I don’t, I swear.  That wasn’t part of our deal.”

            “So what was your part of the deal?” Danny barks, frustration with the man in front of him rising with each minute.

            “I only had to get him on and off the island.”  Sang Min answers, shifting in the chair again.

            Chin eases up, pulling the chair back away from the wall and takes a step back next to Danny.  “Okay, so how is he getting off the island?”

            “I don’t know.”  When Danny growls, Sang Min quickly finishes his answer.  “I got him access to three different ships leaving for three different countries at three different times.  I don’t know which one he’ll be on.”

            “When does the first one leave?” Chin asks, pulling his phone out.

            “Two hours, heading for South Korea,” Sang Min answers dejectedly.  “There is one leaving in two weeks for Russia, and one that’ll be leaving port in a month for China.”

            Chin nods quickly and takes a few steps away, phone pressed to his ear.  Danny, however, eyes up Sang Min for a minute before he shakes his head.  He turns away and starts cuffing the two unconscious guards on the floor, waiting for HPD back up.

            “You won’t get him alive.” Sang Min answers bravely a minute later. 

            Danny stands up, brushing the dust from his pants and glancing over at the man.  “What’d you say?”

            “You won’t catch him alive.  You won’t get anyone that helped him alive.  Once he finds out you’ve been investigating them, the bodies will start piling up.  Everyone he’s come into contact with while he’s been on the island, anyone that’s ever helped him or was going to help him.  Their bodies will just start turning up and while you’re looking one way, he’ll just slip right out of your grip.  You’ll spend months chasing your tail before you find out where he’s been hiding and by then it’ll be too late.”

            “Yeah, we’ll see about that.” Danny answers.

            When Steve comes rolling into the rec room, he’s relieved to see Grace sitting at their table waiting for him.  Sure, he’s only a few minutes late, but he still feels bad.  He wants to grab the wheels and push himself over to their table himself because Kono is going too slow, but he’s not sure how much faster he would be given the workout Kono just put him through.  In fact, he’s not sure he can muster up enough energy to draw with Grace today, but he’ll be content enough just being in her presence.

            Grace sees them coming and waves excitedly then points to their, by now, traditional bag of cookies on the table.  Steve chuckles and from behind him, he can hear Kono laugh too.

            “She’s quite the kid, isn’t she?  I can’t believe I haven’t met her yet!” she exclaims.  As they draw near their usual spot, Kono abandons Steve at the edge of the table and moves around to face Grace.  “You must be Grace!  I’ve heard so much about you.”  Kono smiles at Grace as she crouches down in front of her chair.  Grace nods, eyes flickering between Steve and Kono questioningly.  “I’m Kono, Super Steve’s therapist.”

            At the mention of Grace’s nickname for Steve, Grace’s eyes light up.  “Hi!” she chirps excitedly, sticking her small hand out to Kono for a quick handshake.

            “Sorry I kept Super Steve here a little longer than usual,” Kono apologizes, then glances over to watch as Steve slowly maneuvers his wheelchair closer to the table.  She eyes him critically, noticing how tired he seems, but also how determined he is to spend time with Grace.  “I won’t interrupt anymore of your time.  It was nice meeting you Grace.”  Kono starts to stand up, then pauses, glancing over at Grace again with mischief sparking in her eyes.

            “Hey Grace,” she whispers, beckoning Grace a bit closer.  “You’ll have to ask Super Steve to show you his new trick before you leave.”

            When Grace looks excitedly at Steve then back, Kono just gives her a thumbs up then stands up.  She gives Steve’s shoulder a squeeze as she passes by.  “Have fun Super Steve.” 

            Steve nods at her and waits until Kono has left before he turns his attention back to Grace.  He smiles at her as he picks up a crayon from the rainbow array she has spread across the table.  His hand shakes with exhaustion but Steve tries his best to lock it down until it’s little more than a quiver.  Once it’s under control, Steve smirks over at Grace.

            “Sorry about Kono, but she wanted to meet you.  She wanted to see who made all the pictures on my walls.”  Steve tries to start drawing, but the lines are shaky and jagged, like they were the first time he’d attempted drawing with Grace.  After a minute, he abandons the crayon in favor of opening the bag of cookies and pulling one out for each of them.

            “You have my pictures up on your wall?” Grace asks in shock. 

            “Of course,” Steve nods and hand her a cookie.

            Grace hasn’t really started on a drawing yet so she too abandons her crayons.  After a moments of silence passes between them, Grace moves her chair so it’s placed next to Steve’s.  When she sits back down, she smiles happily up at him and turns her attention out the window.  A few silent, comfortable moments pass between them as they sit there, eating cookies and watching as a few birds flit between the trees in the garden, the warm afternoon sun streaming in through the clouds.

            Steve’s so relaxed that it takes him a minute to realize that Grace isn’t watching the birds anymore, but studying him.  He turns to her questioningly but before he can utter a word, her eyes light up and she’s jumping out of her chair.

            “Be right back Super Steve!” she calls out as she rushes through the rec room over to the nurse’s station.

            Steve watches curiously as she walks straight up to Mak and starts chatting away.  Her little hands are whipping through the air animatedly as she talks.  Mak just smiles indulgently down at her, nodding along to what she’s saying.  When he glances over at Steve, he seems to hesitate for only a moment before Grace steals his attention once again.  A minute later, a proud Grace is strutting back across the rec room with a smirking Mak behind her.

            “What’s up you two?” Steve questions when they stop next to him.

            “We’re going for a walk!” Grace chirps excitedly, quickly gathering up the scattered art materials and putting them back in the bin.

            “What?” Steve looks up at Mak for an explanation but only gets a shrug of shoulders from his still smirking nurse.

            “You said you miss being outside,” Grace says, like it should all make sense.  When Steve still hesitates, she turns back around with an exasperated look on her face.  She cocks one hip out and drops a hand on her hip, looking for all the world like a sarcastic teenager.  Steve’s just waiting for her to roll her eyes in annoyance at him as she starts explaining again. 

            “You miss being out in the sun, remember?  So I told Mak we need to take you outside today so you can see the sun.”

            “Oh,” Steve responds dumbly. 

            “Okay then!  Now that that is all cleared up, let’s go!”  Mak grabs the handles on Steve’s wheelchair and starts pushing him towards the exit.

            “I wanted to push you but I don’t think I can see over you,” Grace explains as they are walking through the hushed hallways.  “So Mak has to push you, but that’s okay because Mak is cool.”

            Mak and Steve both chuckle at Grace as she walks next to Steve, perfectly in pace with his wheelchair.  Once they reach the door leading out into the garden, Grace steps ahead of them and pushes with all her might to open the door.  She holds it open for them as Mak ushers the wheelchair out into the garden, then rushes to catch up with them.

            “It’s so pretty out here!” Grace exclaims, taking in all the flowers, the stone pathway winding its way through the greenery, and the large water fountain in the middle.  Steve can only nod in agreement. 

            He can see parts from his room, from the physical therapy room, and the rec room, but today is the first time he’s seeing the whole garden.  He takes a deep breath and feels invigorated as the fresh air rushes into his lungs.  It’s like it flows into his lungs and seeps out into the rest of his cells, recharging him.  The sun is bright and warm as it flickers in and out behind the clouds drifting lazily through the brilliant blue sky.  Steve just closes his eyes and turns his face  to the sun and tries to soak in as much of it as he can, the sound, the feel, the smell of it all.  The smell of the flora and after-rain fragrance clear out the septic smell of the hospital, the warm of the sun chases away the air-condition chill from his skin, the sounds of birds chirping and insects buzzing drone out the sounds of medical equipment and moans of pain.

            After a moment, he feels a hand on his shoulder and opens his eyes.  In front of him, Grace is crouched down inspecting a butterfly on a flower.  Her little fingers are reaching out to touch it when it takes flight, fluttering close to her nose before it darts over her head and away.  She lets out a surprised squeal as she falls back on her butt and laughs.  Steve laughs with her and watches as she bounds back to her feet and over to him. 

            “Can I push him now, Mak?” Grace asks excitedly, bouncing on her toes.

            “Sure thing, keikei!  Take the reigns!”  Mak exclaims, stepping out from behind the chair.   

            Grace doesn’t hesitate, zipping quickly behind Steve’s chair.  He waits and waits and waits, but he doesn’t move and after a moment, he turns his head and is surprised to see Grace’s eyes peering over his shoulder.

            “You’re too tall!” she exclaims.  “I can’t see!”

            Steve laughs at that.  Even on her tiptoes, Grace can barely see over his shoulder.  “That’s okay, you don’t have to see.  It’s straight path for a while.” Steve pacifies her.  “Plus, Mak can guide you if you need help.”

            “Okay,” Grace agrees.  She gives a little grunt and slowly Steve’s chair starts to inch forward.  They make a slow crawl across the bumpy pathway for a few feet before Grace makes a noise of exasperation.  “You’re too heavy!” she exclaims.

            Mak chuckles at that and moves back around to help her.  With Mak’s muscle, they start to move a little faster but after a moment, they are stopping again.  Steve turns to see what’s going on when he finds Grace perched on the back of his wheelchair, little hands clutching at his shoulders for balance.

            “Okay Mak, push us!” Grace calls out and pretty soon they are moving again.  “Faster!” she squeals and Mak obliges, pushing them across the garden at a fast pace.  But Grace isn’t satisfied yet and calls out “Faster, faster!” until Mak is jogging with them along the paths, zipping around the bushes and the fountain.  Grace squeals in delight and Steve is full out laughing.

            After a few laps, they slow down to a normal pace again.  Mak moves them over to a bench, parking Steve next to it so he’s resting in the sun.  Mak and Grace plop down on the bench and recline back, basking in the afternoon sun for a few minutes, enjoying the peace.  Steve smiles at the picture they make, nearly identical in their sprawls, legs stretched out, arms crossed behind their heads, faces towards the sun.  He figures they have the right idea and moves to stretch his legs out in front of him.  Once his feet touch the ground though, he has a whole other idea of what he wants to do now.

            “Mak,” he calls out.  “Help me up.”

            Mak hesitates for a moment before he nods.  He gets up and crouches in front of the wheelchair to move the leg-rests out of the way, while Grace sits perched on the bench watching curiously.  Mak gets them out of the way, then moves to stand next to Steve’s side, ready to aid him.

            “Is this your new trick?” Grace questions.  When Steve and Mak look at her confused, she shrugs.  “Kono said you had a new trick.  Is this it?”

            Steve chuckles at that.  Of course Kono would call it a trick, and of course she would tell Grace about it, even though today was the first day he’d done it all on his own.  “Yeah, I guess you could call it that,” he says.  He plants his hands firmly on the arm rests of the chair and with a  deep breath, pushes up with all his strength.  His body lifts up off the chair and Steve struggles to gather his legs under him.  Mak grabs on to one of Steve’s arms and guides him up until he’s standing hunched over, hands still gripping the armrests.  With one last push upwards, he stands upright, held only in place by sheer determination and the rapidly fading strength in his shaky legs.       

            Grace lets out a loud cheer, clapping her hands enthusiastically once Steve makes it upright.  Steve glances over at her, startled, before he beams at her excitement.  He lets himself feel a rush of pride and straightens up just bit more.  Seeing Grace’s pride and excitement bolsters him a bit more and he turns to Mak.

            “I wanna walk,” he murmurs quietly, so as not to let Grace hear.

            Mak looks at him like he’s absolutely crazy.  And maybe he is, but he wants so badly to take a step or two right now.  He wants to do it for Grace.  Steve hasn’t even attempted this in therapy yet so it is most definitely crazy to attempt on the bumpy, cobbled pathway in the garden.  That isn’t going to stop him, though.  Mak must be able to read the determination on his face because he sighs heavily and nods his head. 

            “Come here, Grace.  We need your help.”  Mak beacons Grace over.

            She jumps off the bench and rushes over to Steve’s other side, waiting anxiously for instructions.

            “Steve wants to take a few steps, but he’s going to need our help.  Think you can do that?” Mak asks her seriously.  Grace nods eagerly.  “Okay, stay on that side of Steve.  He’s going to hold on to your shoulder, to guide himself.  I’m going to be helping him too so he doesn’t fall. Okay?”

            “Yep!” Grace answer excitedly, smiling up at Steve.

            Steve puts his hand on Grace’s shoulder and slings his other arm around Mak’s shoulder, who takes some of his weight.  With a deep breath, Steve slowly lifts his left leg and slides it across the walkway a few inches.  The weight transfer is a bit shaky and Steve’s sure he’s going to face plant, but Mak holds him steady until he’s got his weight on his forward leg.  He pulls his right leg up from behind and slides it forward.

            “Go Steve! Go!” Grace chants like Steve’s running a marathon.  Her encouragement makes the next step a little easier.  “You did it!  You’re walking!”

            _I did it.  I’m walking_.  The thought hits him so suddenly that it feels like a punch to the gut.  He heaves out a breath and squeezes Mak’s arm, signaling he needs to stop.  He’s sweaty and shaky and so sure he’s about to lose his shit.  Mak must read it all over his face because he quickly intercedes.

            “Okay Super Steve, that’s enough for today.  Can’t wear you out too much.”  Mak halts their progress and takes more of Steve’s weight against his side.  “Okay Grace.  Can you push the wheelchair up behind Steve for me, _keikei_?”

            “Sure,” she skips the few steps Steve managed to shuffle through to the wheelchair.  It takes some finagling for her to unlock the brakes and push the chair up behind Steve’s legs, but she manages.

            “Excellent,” Mak praises.  “Just lock the breaks for me there, kiddo, and we’re good to go.”  Grace does as instructed and then Mak gently eases Steve back down into the chair, murmuring quiet words to him all the way.

            “Okay, easy buddy.  Take it easy.  Just breathe.  Reach back, the chair is right behind you.  Good.  Easy now.  All right, you’ve got it.  Almost there.  Take it easy.  You’re good.”

            Once Steve is sitting back in the chair, Mak crouches down and starts to move the leg-rest back around to the front.  Grace kneels down and mirrors his movements.  Mak smiles at her.

            “Thanks Gracie.  You’ll make a terrific nurse some day,” he says, standing up and moving Steve’s chair back to the bench.  He sits down next to Grace on the bench and quietly talks with her for a few minutes, distracting her while Steve composes himself.

            After a minute, Steve takes a deep breath and wipes a hand across his face, surprised to find tears there.  He walked.  He actually walked.  After a long four months stuck in a wheelchair with a body that wouldn’t cooperate, he finally took his first steps.  The relief he feels is so stunning; it’s like a huge weight has slid off his shoulder or a dark cloud has finally passed, leaving only sunny skies.  He takes a deep breath and smiles over at Mak, letting him know that he’s okay.

            “Well what do you say?  We should probably be getting you two back inside, yeah?”  Steve and Grace both pout at the news, but Grace obliges, standing up and taking a hold of one of the armrests.  She walks beside Steve as they make their way back inside, smiling the whole way.

            Steve smiles back at her and can’t believe how much she has changed his life.  He owes this little girl so much more than she’ll ever know, more than he can ever repay.  Grace, who popped up in his life and filled it with sunshine, who eased a smile back on his face and rekindled the fire in his soul.  She brought him back to life.  He owes her so much and isn’t sure how he could ever start to repay her.

            Then he remembers the look on her face when Kono had mentioned seeing her drawings and an idea pops in his head.  It’s only a small thing, but he thinks Grace will love it. 

            “Mak,” he asks as they enter the hospital once again.  “Can we take a small detour?” 

            Mak looks unsure and hesitates when both Grace and Steve are looking at him with anticipation.

            “I want to show Grace my wall of fame,” Steve states simply.  And just like that Mak gives in.

            “Oh all right.  But quickly,” he concedes, glancing down at his watch.  “It’s almost time for Grace to leave and for your dinner.”

            Mak steers them down the hall passed the rec room and through the small maze of hallways and rooms until they pull up short outside Steve’s door.  Steve motions for Grace to go in first and maneuvers the wheelchair himself into the room behind her.  He knows the exact moment Grace sees it because she pauses mid-step and lets out a small squeal.  She spins around, eyes huge and round in her little face as she looks at Steve.

            “Are these all my pictures?” she asks in shock, turning back to the sight before her.

            Steve just nods and glances up at the wall opposite from his bed.  There taped to the wall are all of the pictures Grace has drawn for him since their first visit together.  The beach.  The sand castle she and Danno had built.  Super Steve.  Super SEAL.  The sunset.  They were all there, hung with pride.

            Grace spins back to face him and doesn’t hesitate when she launches at him.  She wraps her little arms around his neck and squeezes tight.  Steve hugs her back hard, feeling a familiar swell of emotion in his throat.  When she pulls back, her eyes are dancing with joy.

            “Thank you Super Steve.”

            “No, thank you Gracie,” Steve whispers back.  


  


  


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	5. Chapter 5

**Through the Darkness – Part Five**  
 **Fandom:**   Hawaii Five-0  
 **Pairing:**   Steve/Danny (pre-slash)  
 **Rating:**   PG-13

  
  


            He is just pulling out of the school parking lot when his phone starts ringing.  With a groan, he fumbles around in the cup holders before grabbing the device.  Chin’s name is blinking on the screen and Danny breathes a sigh of relief as he answers the call.

            “Hey Chin, what’s up?” Danny puts the phone on speaker and drops it back in the cup holder as he maneuvers through the morning traffic.  He and Grace were both running a bit behind this morning so he’s stuck in a completely different traffic pattern.  He’s already late and about to get much later if the line of brakes lights up ahead is anything to go by.

            “Doran’s dead.”  Chin’s voice is low and barely comes across the line.

            It’s like a bucket of ice water has just been dumped over his head.  Danny freezes for a moment before he’s grabbing the phone and pressing it to his ear.  “What was that?  Because I swear, Chin, it just sounded like you said …”

            “Doran is dead.”

            When Chin speaks this time, it’s louder, but nowhere near normal conversation level.  It’s then that Danny hears the ringing of phones and bustling activating in the back.  It all makes sense then, why Chin is guarding his words.  “Are you at HPD?”

            “Yeah.”  Chin’s answers are clipped.  “Just got word about a body that washed up on shore about an hour ago.  Word around the station is that it’s Doran.”

            “Shit,” Danny swears, banging a hand on the steering wheel.

            “He warned us.”  Chin’s voice is barely above a whisper, but Danny doesn’t need it repeated because he is thinking the exact same thing.  Sang Min had warned them about digging deeper, about all the bodies that would start piling up if they dared to go after Hesse.  Looks like he was right.

            “Son of bitch,” Danny mutters, glad that Gracie’s innocent ears aren’t in the car to hear his language.  “I’m on my way to the station now.  Dig up what you can and let me know, but keep your head low.  We do not want all this coming back to us until we have a more solid case.”

            “Yeah, I hear ya.”  Chin pauses as voices drift loudly over the line before fading back out again.  Once it’s quiet again, Chin continues.  “Body’s on its way to the morgue for ID and preliminary results.  I’ll see what I can get from the ME.”

            Danny hangs up the phone and bangs his hand against the steering wheel once more for good measure before he pulls into the parking lot of HPD.  He wants information on Doran’s death, but he knows for damn sure that if he goes poking his nose around a murder investigation, they’ll both surely get caught.  How no one has noticed up to this point, Danny’s not sure.  But if they go sniffing around a fresh murder, one with ties to Danny’s last case, it’ll all get blown wide open, and not in the way he wants either.

            Pocketing his phone, Danny climbs out of the car and straightens his tie as he makes his way inside.  He does his best to act like it’s just another day, nodding politely to Chin as they pass in the bullpen, signing cases and answering calls like normal.  Instead of tuning out all the background noise like he normally does though, today Danny is listening extra hard, catching bits and pieces of information as they come up.  When he does hear them, he scribbles them down in shorthand on a scrap piece of paper he keeps tucked under his keyboard.

            “What’s that?” Meka asks loudly, as Danny is scribbling down the information he overheard about a ballistics report.

            Danny curses under his breath and tries to cover up the paper, but Meka is honed in on him like a laser and snatches up the paper.  Meka’s eyes flit over the sloppy writing curiously, but Danny can tell the exact moment Meka figures it out.  His eyes grow wide and he glances around the room for a second before he looks back to Danny. 

            “What the hell are you doing, Danny?”

            “Nothing, just some notes,” Danny murmurs, reaching for that paper, but Meka withholds it.

            “Notes on what?!”  Meka’s tone of voice is drawing the attention of the few detectives Danny had previously been eavesdropping on. 

            Danny sets his jaw and pitches his voice low, hoping that Meka will get the hint and drop it.  “Case notes.  Now hand it over, pal.”

            “Yeah, a murder case, Danny.  Last time I looked, _we_ were working robbery, _partner_.”  Meka’s voice drops low, but now their silence is drawing even more attention.

            He can feel the stillness that’s dropping over the bullpen as eyes slowly turn to look at them and it’s only then that Danny realizes what a scene they are actually making.  Meka may have almost a foot on him in height, but Danny is right up in his partner’s face, fuming.  Danny consciously drops back a step and watches as Meka does the same, trying to defuse the tension.  It doesn’t work as well as he had hoped.  With Meka’s attention diverted for the moment, Danny takes advantage and plucks the notes out of the bigger man’s hands.  Meka turns back to him, glaring, but doesn’t say anything else.  Instead, he sides with the rest of the bullpen waiting for an answer from him, an answer Danny is not going to give willingly.

            In his pocket, Danny’s phone starts to vibrate and he just knows instinctually that it’s Chin.  Chin has answers.  Danny’s reaching for the phone but drops his hand before it gets there.  Meka’s watching him, looking equal parts confused and betrayed.  Of course Meka knew something was up, all the times Danny ducked out on him the past few weeks, taking secret phone calls and working on paperwork that wasn’t relevant to their current cases.  And now that he has confirmation that Danny is working something on the side, Danny knows he just won’t let it go. 

            “I’m going to grab lunch,” Danny grabs his keys and watches as Meka’s shoulders fall in disappointment. As much as Danny has tried to avoid it, it is time to work his partner into the fold.  “You coming?” he tosses over his shoulder and watches as Meka jumps into motion.

            They are just striding through the door when Meka breaks his silence.  “Why the hell are you looking into the Doran-”

            “Shut up.” Danny snaps before Meka can finish his sentence.  There are still plenty of ears around in hearing distance and this is not a conversation he wants to have in the parking lot.  “Just get in the car, I’ll explain on the way.”  He fishes his phone out of his pocket and opens up Chin’s message.

            _Prelim results are in.  Meet me._

            The address is for a burger place three blocks from Kame’s shrimp truck and at first Danny is confused, but as he pulls up and sees Chin’s apprehensive form sitting astride his bike, it all makes perfect sense.  Kame has been their main line of information so far in this case.  And sure, they haven’t always met up at Kame’s, but they have been there enough times over the last few weeks to connect some dots.  If they were being followed that is, like Kame seemed to fear.  Might as well not paint a bigger target on the big man’s back by visiting him again too soon.

            “What the hell is Kelly doing here?  Is _he_ who you’ve been meeting up with?”  Meka asks in disbelief, spitting out Chin’s name like a curse.

            Danny sighs and pinches the bridge of his nose to compose himself.  When he looks back over at Meka, he feels a fierceness come over him, an urge to defend Chin like his own brother, something he’s never felt for anyone he’s worked with.  “Listen up, because I’m only going to say this once,” Danny waits until he has Meka’s full attention. 

            “Chin Ho Kelly is probably the most upstanding citizen I’ve ever met and one of the best cops I know.  He’s a good man and a loyal partner.  You _will_ respect him and never speak about him like that again.  Are we clear?”  Danny’s voice is deadly calm when it comes out and Meka seems taken aback for a moment before he nods his head.

            “We don’t have time for the long version so I’ll give you the cliff notes.  Chin and I have been investigating the McGarrett murder.”  At Meka’s look of shock, Danny waves his hand.  “I know, the case was going no where it seemed.  But Chin called in a couple of favors to and old confidential informant and things starting coming up, names of people who could be involved or might know who’s involved.  So we ran with it.  We didn’t want to risk the Cap pulling us if we went too early with it and it didn’t pan out.  But now things are really starting to heat up.  Doran’s body just turned up dead.  Yeah, the same Doran we looked into that had mysteriously disappeared.  We’re gonna need help and I wanna bring you in on this.  Are you in?”

            Meka frowns at Danny, slowly processing all the information before he slowly nods.

            “All right then, let’s go.” Danny climbs out of the car patting his pocket to ensure he has his notes before he makes his way over to Chin.

            “Chin, I’d like you to meet my partner Meka Hanamoa.  Meka, meet Chin Ho Kelly.”

            Chin looks a bit surprised but doesn’t comment on it, just shakes Meka’s hand and watches Danny curiously.  Meka seems to do the same. 

            “Well I am actually hungry.  Can we eat and catch up at the same time?”

            By time Danny has his burger and has found a table for them to occupy, Chin is making his way over.  Seeing Meka still ordering, Chin jumps on his only chance.

            “You’re bringing your partner in on this now?”  Chin’s voice doesn’t give away much, but Danny likes to think that he knows the man well enough now to detect a hint of hurt on his face.

            “It wasn’t exactly my choice,” Danny admits after a moment.  “He found my notes and things got a bit … heated.  He’s like a dog with a bone, once he gets onto something, he doesn’t let go.  He’s probably suspected all along that I’ve been up to something and my notes were confirmation of that.  I had to tell him or risk it getting really messy.”  Danny takes a bit of burger and watches as Chin nods in agreement.  “Plus, we could probably use the extra eyes on the case now that it’s heating up again.”

            Once Meka is seated, Chin pulls out his notebook and dives right in.  “I assume Danny brought you up speed?”  When Meka nods in agreement, Chin turns to Danny and starts rattling off the facts from the autopsy, largely ignoring Meka.  “I have a guy at the ME’s office who was willing to help us out.  He passed along the results of the preliminary autopsy.  Doran was shot twice in the chest, then drowned.”

            “Seems like overkill,” Danny mutters around his burger.  Chin raises his eyebrow, but doesn’t comment.

            “Estimated time of death is yesterday, early morning.  Once they complete the autopsy we’ll have a better window.  Looks like Doran was shot twice before he was tied up and dumped in the ocean.  There was a frayed rope tied to his legs which indicates he was tied to something.”

            “To make him disappear,” Meka mutters, earning Chin’s attention and approval.

            “Exactly.  They wanted him gone.  Only they didn’t count on the rope busting that easily and Doran floating to shore so soon.  He wasn’t too badly decomped or scavenged despite being in the water for 24 hours.  ID is solid.  It is Doran.”

            “Damn it,” Danny sighs, but pulls out his notes.  “I figured it was, but was kinda hoping that Sang Min was wrong on this one.”  He slides his notes across the table to Chin.  “They ran a ballistics report on the two bullets pulled from his body.  They matched the bullets from two other unsolved murders,” Danny pauses, knowing he has piqued Chin’s interest.

            “Killed by one of his own guns,” Chin shakes his head.  “Same gun that killed McGarrett?”

            Danny nods and watches as Chin digests that information quickly.  “They’re still searching for the main crime scene, but no leads on that or a suspect.  Marks and Laki have their own theories about gun sales gone wrong, but I think we both know what really happened here.”

            “He was a liability.”  Chin answers succinctly, sliding Danny’s notes back across the table.

            “Exactly.  Hesse knew we were getting close.  We knew about Doran and we found Sang Min.  He knows it’s only a matter of time before we track him down too.”  Danny cuts a glance to Meka, who’s remained mostly quiet the entire conversation.  “He’s cleaning up loose ends which means he’s getting ready to move.  Once he gets off this island, this is no longer in our hands.  We’ve lost our chance.  Chin, we need to move on this.  Now.  Before we lose him.”

            Chin is nodding along, but he looks worried.  “We don’t have much, Danny.  The word of the victim’s injured son and that of a former felon.  Neither of them inspires much confidence.  We need something else, something solid, to tie this together.”

            Danny understands well enough.  If he takes this to the Cap right now, they’ll be laughed right out of his office.  Or maybe kicked out on their asses without their badges, depending on his mood.  Danny knows Chin is right, but he can’t help the feeling that they need to move quickly.  There aren’t many more bodies to pop up on the island before Hesse has tied up all his loose ends.  Sang Min.  Maybe Kamekona.  Possibly Danny and Chin themselves.  It’s a short list and could be done by the end of the day if Hesse was really motivated.

            “Put an APB out on him.” Meka speaks up.  Chin and Danny both turn to him and eyeball him like he’s crazy but Meka just shrugs.  “Give as detailed of a description as you can without a name and have them run it on traffic and security cameras, especially around the port areas.  If he’s cleaning house like you suspect, or trying to leave, he’ll pop up eventually.  Then you have him.”

            Danny opens his mouth to shoot the idea down, but stops.  He looks over at Chin and quirks an eyebrow.  Why the hell not?  They don’t have many other options at this point, what could it hurt?  Chin nods once, looking over at Meka with something akin to approval.

            “We do have a robbery suspect that sorta matches that description,” Danny starts, smirking over at Meka.  “We wouldn’t want him boarding a plane or a boat out of here with the Jackson’s family heirloom jewels, now would we?”

            Grace is unusually quiet the next week.  When she comes in at first, she’s all smiles and bubbly chatter about how much fun the aquarium was.  Steve munches on a cookie and listens to her with a wide smile on his face as she describes swimming with the dolphins and feeding the sea lions and petting the string rays.  It isn’t until she picks up a crayon and starts to draw that a sudden gloom comes over her. 

            Steve moves his crayon back and forth over his paper mindlessly, keeping an eye on Grace as she colors.  There is a wrinkle of concentration in her brow as she stares down at the paper.  There is no happy chatter tumbling from her lips or sunny smiles cast his way every crayon change.  After a while, when his paper is mostly covered in black and green and blue swirls, he can take it no longer.

            “What are you working on there, Gracie?”  Steve gives up on the pretense of drawing and turns his wheelchair towards Grace. 

            She peeks up over her arm, startled.  “Super Steve,” she murmurs.  After a second of hesitation, she uncurls her arm from around the page and shows it to Steve.  It isn’t finished yet, but Steve can get the drift of it.

            On the far left side of the page is Super Steve as Grace had drawn him before, only this time he is crouched down a bit like he is ready to fight.  On the opposite side of the page are the beginnings of what look to be a very large army of ninjas.  At first, it brings a smile to his face to see Super Steve back in action, but the sullen look on Grace’s face kills it instantly.  He still isn’t sure what is on Grace’s mind, but he is pretty sure he knows a way to get a smile back on her face.

            “He’s looking pretty out numbered there,” Steve feigns concern, frowning at the multiplying enemies.

            “Super Steve always beats the bad guys,” Grace mutters, snatching back the paper and drawing yet another small ninja.

            “Hmmm,” Steve contemplates it for another moment before shaking his head.  “Against other foes, maybe.  But ninjas?  I’m not sure he can hold his own against all of them!”

            Steve picks up a pink crayon and rolls it between his fingers for a moment as Grace pauses in contemplation.  She looks up at Steve concerned, waiting for his answer.

            “I think Super Steve might need to call in his super special side kick to get out of this one.”  Steve holds out the pink crayon to Grace with a smile and watches in relief as her face starts to lighten up.

            “Who’s her sidekick?!”  Grace grabs up the crayon and poises it over the paper in anticipation.

            “Well the one and only Monkey Girl of course!”  Steve exclaims.

            The laughter that bubbles out of Grace is contagious and Steve finds himself chuckling along.  It takes her a moment to get her giggles under control, but when she does, she is switching out the pink crayon Steve had given her for a yellow one.

            Grace starts drawing away once again, this time with a huge smile on her face as she and Steve start creating Monkey Girl.  Grace insists on a yellow t-shirt with a banana on it and a pink tutu, while Steve draws in two springy pigtails, monkey ears, and a long tail.  When they are finished putting last touches on their superheroes, Steve picks up a black crayon and scrawls the words “The Adventures of Super Steve and Monkey Girl” at the top in his blocky handwriting then turns the crayon over Grace.

            “You have to sign your name on your drawing,” Steve reasons.

            Grace quickly scrawls out ‘Gracie’ just under the feet of Monkey Girl, then returns the crayon back to Steve.  “You too!”

            Steve smiles at her and does the same, signing “Steve” under Super Steve’s feet in small letters.  He holds up the picture at arms length and quickly declares it a masterpiece.  What he’s really looking at though is the wide smile that’s finally back on Grace’s face.

            “What do you say we go for another walk today?” Steve questions quickly.  He had loved the time they had spent outside last week and was eager to repeat it.  He hadn’t been outside since the attack on his team four months ago and now that he has tasted fresh air, he craves it.  No one else had been able to take him outside for even a quick jaunt this week and the one time he had attempted it himself, he’d ended up getting caught in between the door.  Mak had come to his rescue, but by then Steve was too tired from fighting with the chair and the door to continue on his own.

            “Sure!” Grace agrees, sliding out of her chair and heading over to Mak before Steve can reply.

            Mak once again zips them through the garden pathways, Steve in the wheelchair, Grace standing on the back clutching at Steve’s shoulders.  But it’s much shorter this time.  Mak parks them next to the same bench in front of the fountain, then makes his apologies as he is needed inside.

            “I’ll be out to get you when its time to go, Grace” Mak informs them before disappearing into the wild greenery.

            A sudden silence falls between them for a few moments before Grace’s deep breath breaks it.  It’s a deep breath that speaks more than Grace has all day.  It says that something big is on Grace’s mind, something important.  And whatever it is, it’s about to come rushing out.  Steve takes his own deep breath, preparing for whatever comes out of her little mouth.

            “I’m going to miss you.”

            She says it so softly that Steve doesn’t quite catch it all the first time.  When she repeats louder a second time though, his heart trips a beat in his chest.  He’s dumbfounded for a moment, not sure exactly what to say.

            “Well I’ll miss you too kiddo, but we still have one more visit, remember?”  Steve tries to keep his voice light and jovial, but the sudden thought of not seeing Grace every week makes a pain settle deep in his chest.  _We still have one more week_ , he reminds himself again, but it does little to calm his heart, just like it does little to ease the sadness of Grace’s face.

            “You’re going away and I won’t get to see you ever again,” Grace stutters out, voice sounding awfully close to tears.

            Steve turns towards her, frowning.  “Going away?”

            Grace wipes a hand across her face clumsily and sniffs.  “Yeah.  Going back to fighting the bad guys.”

            At that, Steve closes his eyes and huffs out a relieved breath.  “No, I won’t.” He states quietly.  Grace looks up at him confused and Steve has to tamp down on all the emotions swirling in his chest; anger, regret, guilt, defeat.  How could Grace know he’d never fight against the bad guys again?  “I won’t be fighting bad guys anymore, Grace.  I’m not going away, not for a while at least.”

            “Really?”  Grace asks, sounding so hopeful.  “Because Tommy said that when people get better here, they have to back and fight the bad guys again.  And you are better now, you can walk!  Are you sure you don’t have to go fight anymore?”

            Steve nods his head and swallows around the sudden swell in his throat.  He’s not better, not by a long shot, but the fact that Grace sees his first few shaky steps as that makes him a little proud.  “I’m sure, Gracie.  My days of fighting the bad guys are done.”

            “So you’ll be here for more visits?”

            Out of the corner of his eye, Steve can see Mak approaching them.  He’s really starting to hate this time of day, the time when he and Grace’s visit for the week is up and he has to go from being a superhero back to being a patient in a hospital.  Ignoring Mak for the moment, Steve turns to look at Grace and smiles as wide and bright as he can.  “Of course I’ll be here for more visits.  I’ll see you next week okay, Monkey Girl.  I promise.”

            The last vestiges of sadness slip off of Grace’s face at his promise and she smiles up at him.  “Okay Super Steve.”

            “WILLIAMS!  My office.  Now!”

            Danny jerks his head away from the computer and up to face the Captain, who looks like he’s about to spit fire. 

            _Shit_ , he thinks, quickly closing the files up on his computer about the McGarrett murder.  He cuts a quick glance over Meka, but he’s being smart and keeping his head buried paperwork.  All the other eyes in the precinct are on him though, and Danny can feel the calculating weight of them as he moves.

            Taking a deep breath, he crosses the threshold of the Captain’s office and closes the door with a quiet snick.  When he turns to face the Captain, he looks even more pissed off, if that is possible.  Danny slips silently into a chair, the one furthest from the Captain’s desk, and steels himself for what’s coming.

            Since deciding to reopen the McGarrett case, he had known this day was a possibility, the day he’d get kicked off the force.  Who was he kidding, thinking that he could continue an under the table investigation and not have it come back and bite him in the ass.  It was worth it, though, he told himself.  It was worth it because the McGarrett children, Steve and Mary, both deserved answers and no one else was looking for them.  He’d made peace with his decision and would accept whatever consequences came his way.

            “I can’t decide if your stupid or crazy, Williams.  What the hell were you thinking?!”  The Captain’s voice is much quieter than Danny expected and he flinches almost out of habit.  “Do you wanna tell me why I got a call from Interpol asking why one of my detectives put an APB out on an international criminal without their knowledge?!  Or how about explaining to me why you and Officer Kelly have unsanctioned copies of a cold case murder file, a file I ordered closed months ago!”  The Captain’s voice is raising an octave with each question and Danny worries he might run out of volume before all his questions are unleashed.

            “Sir, I can-”

            “Oh you are going to explain Williams!  Explain to me why there are bodies starting to pile up centered around a closed murder investigation.  Or how about explaining why three demoted police officers have taken it upon themselves to work on cases they are not cleared for, poking around the ME’s office, the evidence locker, and the forensic lab for answers to cases they aren’t assigned to!  _Or_ how about you tell me why I shouldn’t strip you and Kelly and Hanamoa of your badges right now and charge all of you with obstruction!”

            Danny closes his eyes and draws in a quick breath.  He had been prepared to take the heat for all of this, he knew Chin was willing to do the same, but Meka … Meka’s curiosity drew him into it.  He hadn’t done anything wrong besides sit at the same table as them today and overhear a conversation.    Meka shouldn’t have to be involved in this; his reputation was already tarnished enough by Danny without all of this added into the mix.

            “Meka didn’t have anything to do with this, sir.  It’s all me.”  Danny’s voice seems whisper quiet in the stillness after the Captain’s tirade.  He sits up straight in his chair and faces his still fuming Captain. 

            “ _I_ made the decision to reopen the McGarrett case.  _I_ started poking around the other investigations and trying to find out more information.  But I have a lead, sir, and ID on the killer.  That means more to me right now, catching a murderer and putting him behind bars.  That is my job.  And if doing my job one last time costs me it, then it’s fine by me.”

            Danny watches as the Captain sighs heavily and leans back in his chair.  “I was afraid you were going to come out with something stupid and I’d actually have to hear you out,” he mumbles.  He rubs a hand over his face, then waves at Danny.  “Give it to me.”

            “Victor Hesse.”  The name is out of his mouth before he can stop it.  And like loosening the plug on a drain, it all comes rushing out quickly after that.  Every detail of the case Chin and Danny have uncovered.  Victor Hesse and his connection to the McGarrett family, how Sang Min smuggled him on the island and Doran supplied him with weapons, their “confidential informant”, and their half-assed plan to catch their killer before he left the islands.  When he finishes, the Captain is just staring at him blankly for a minute and Danny’s not sure what he expects, but it’s certainly not for the Captain to smirk.

            “I might’ve been wrong about you, Jersey.” He nods approvingly, then leans forward.  “I close a goddamn case and no one touches it, except for you.  And Kelly.”  He says Chin’s name with a bit of disdain, but he’s moving on before Danny can even react.  “I should kick your ass of out this precinct right now, but I’m not going to and I’ll tell you why.  Despite your insubordination, you’ve actually managed to blow this case wide open.”

            Danny tries hard not show his surprise, but some of it must show because the Captain’s smirk just grows wider.

            “And that fact that you are actually surprised that I’m not firing you makes me even more sure of what I’m about to do.  Any cop who is willing to put his job on the line to solve a case and bring in a murderer, that’s someone I want in my department.  The case was cold before we even got it, everyone knows it, but you didn’t let it go and I admire that.  I’ll let you work it, with Hanamoa and Kelly.”  The Captain slides the real file across the desk towards Danny, but slaps a hand on it when Danny goes to grab it.  “But hear me on this Williams, if it goes cold again, that’s it.  It’s closed.  You and Hanamoa go back to robbery, no fuss, no muss, and Kelly goes back to his beat.  Understood?”

            “Yes sir,” Danny nods, standing up and taking the file once it’s relinquished.  He’s turning to go when the Captain’s voice stops him again.

            “If you do manage to solve it, though Williams,” Danny turns back to face his Captain, “If you catch this Hesse guy, you, Hanamoa, and Kelly will all be promoted back to your previous status in homicide.”

            “Thank you, sir,” Danny’s fingers are already flipping through the file when he notices new pages.

            “I took the liberty of adding in the case information on Doran and what guns and gangs had on Sang Min.  Also, Interpol is sending over some information on Hesse.  I had to pull quite a few favors to get it so don’t mess this up, Williams.” 

            Danny smirks at the gruff threat and nods.  “Yes, sir.”  Danny strides out of the office waving the file at Meka.  “Get Chin on the phone and get him over here, we’ve got work to do.”

            When he sees Grace come skipping in all smiles the next week, Mak’s face falls.  He watches her head right over to their table and start rooting around in her backpack for something.  At first he sees she’s digging out their usual bag of cookies, but a doll of some sort quickly follows that.  She sits the doll down in front of where Steve normally sits and places the bag of cookies next to it.  Even from this distance away, Mak can see the proud smile on her face as she looks to be setting up a surprise for Steve.  Once it’s set up, she sits down in her normal chair and waits, kicking her feet to and fro beneath the chair, watching all the other kids and soldiers.  She’s waiting so patiently.

            He forces himself to move, taking one step in front of the other until he’s nearing her.  When she sees him, Grace waves and bounces a little in her seat.  She looks behinds Mak, hoping for a sign of Steve but then shrugs her little shoulders.  It’s not been unusual these last few weeks for Kono to come strolling in with Steve a few minutes late so that’s probably where she thinks he is.  It breaks Mak’s heart to have to tell her the bad news.

            “Hey Mak,” Grace chirps as Mak comes up to her.

            “Hey Gracie,” he says, trying to sound happy.  If he fails miserably, Grace doesn’t show it.  She just smiles and keeps kicking her feet, fingers busy twisting a pink hair tie around her wrist.  “I’m sorry to tell you this Grace, but Steve isn’t going to be here today.”

            At those words, Grace’s face falls.  Mak’s never seen her look this upset before, not even when Steve completely ignored her that first visit.  She’s always been cheery smiles and exuberance.  He feels absolutely miserable to have to tell her this.  He kneels down in front of her and smiles sadly up at her, hoping it’ll help cushion the blow.

            “Steve hasn’t been feeling well the past few days and he got really sick last night.  He has to stay in bed today so he can get better.”

            “Can I go see him in his room?” Grace asks hopefully, but Mak just shakes his head, shooting her down once again.

            “I’m sorry kiddo, but no.  Steve can’t have any visitors that could be carrying germs.  His body is too weak right now to fight off any other germs.”

            Grace’s eyes well up with tears, but she nods in understanding.  She glances over at the doll sitting on the table, which Mak can now see is an action figure decked out in full military regalia, and frowns harder.  “I was going to surprise Steve and show him my new doll,” Grace mutters, picking up the action figure and clutching it close.  “I begged Danno to buy me a GI Joe because I wanted one just like Steve.”

            Mak sighs heavily and nods.  “I’m sure he would’ve loved to see it, sweetie.”

            “If I draw a picture, will you give it to Steve?”

            “Of course I will!” Mak nods quickly.  “You draw as many pictures as you want and I’ll see to it that they are all personally delivered to Super Steve right away.  Sound good?”

            It’s not how she wanted to spend her last day here, Mak can tell, sitting alone at the table and drawing by herself.  But she’ll do it because she adores Steve and wants him to have another picture.  “All right then.  I’ll be back to check on you in a little bit.”

            “All done?” Mak asks when he sees Grace cleaning up all the art supplies.  The rest of the room is a bustle of activity as the rest of the kids clean up the games and puzzles scattered about as well.  Grace just nods solemnly and hands over a stack of pictures. 

            “Will you give these to Super Steve too?” Grace holds out the traditional bag of cookies and looks up at Mak hopefully.

            “Of course I will.  I’m sure he’ll be excited for them,” he adds.  He hates seeing the look on Grace’s face as much as he hated the look on Steve’s face when he realized he was going to miss his last day with Grace.  Even pale and flushed with fever, voice croaky and limbs weak, Steve had tried to push himself out of bed, insisting that he could go.

            Grace just nods again before picking up her backpack and her GI Joe.  She hesitates for a moment before throwing her arms around Mak’s legs in a quick hug.  “Give Super Steve a hug too please,” she whispers.  “And tell him Monkey Girl will miss him.”

            “Okay, sweetie.  I will.”

            Mak watches her follow the rest of her class down the hall, shoulders dropped and head down.  With a sigh, Mak starts heading down the hall towards Steve’s room, not sure he can face another heart broken look after just dealing with Grace, but he had a promise to keep.

            Steve is slumbering in bed when Mak creeps in and for that he is glad.  He’s glad to not have to face the look of defeat on Steve’s face just yet, but he’s also glad because Steve has barely been getting any restful sleep the last few nights.  He needs the rest.   He drops the bag of cookies on Steve’s tray, then proceeds over to the wall of fame.  He eyes it critically for a moment before he starts moving some things around and hanging up all of Grace’s new drawings.

            There are some of animals and a new picture of a beach with a sailboat out in the water.  There is a one of a dolphin chasing a shark and a one of Steve standing next to Grace on a beach with the words _N_ _ā Hoaloha_ (friends) written in the sky above their heads.   It’s that last one, though, that gives Mak pause.  He smiles sadly down at the drawing, but makes sure that it’s placed front and center when he tapes it to the wall.  Lastly, he takes the get-well card Grace made and stands it up on the table next to Steve’s cookies.  He moves the table around a bit until he’s sure it’ll be in Steve’s line of sight when he wakes, wanting it to be the first thing that Steve sees.

            He takes one last look at the Wall of Fame and smiles at all the cheerful, colorful pictures staring back at him.  These are just what Steve will need in the next few weeks to keep him going.  Satisfied with his handy work, Mak takes one last look over at his patient before going back to work.

            Danny watches as Grace gets off the bus in front of the school and can’t believe that it’s been eight weeks already.  Eight weeks ago he had been terrified of what this experience would do to his little girl, but never had he thought it would make her so happy.  There were times the past few weeks that she would come home and all she could talk about was ‘Super Steve did this’ and ‘Super Steve said that’.  She brought home drawings he had made and hung them on her wall or the fridge and insisted that every Wednesday night before bed they make a batch of chocolate chip cookies for Super Steve because they’re his favorite.

            When he had talked to Grace’s teacher last week, she had told him how much his little girl had changed this soldier’s life.  ‘ _It was amazing to see, Mr. Williams_ ’ she had told him during their meeting. ‘ _This man went from not talking to anyone and struggling every day with his injuries, to talking to Grace, participating in activities, and is even making huge progress in his therapy.  His doctor is stunned.  Grace has literally changed his life.’_   Danny had absorbed it all and smiled at Grace’s teacher, but had hugged Grace so hard when he got home.  He had always known Grace was special, but knowing that she has touched someone’s life so profoundly has him nearly bursting with pride.

            As he spots Grace’s infamous pigtails bobbing in the crowd, Danny pulls himself out of the car and rests against the fender waiting for her like he did eight weeks ago.  When he sees her this time, she’s not beaming from ear to ear, but staring sadly down at her own feet as she walks towards him.  Danny’s heart sinks in his chest, but he plasters on his best smile and calls out for her, “Hey monkey!”

            Grace looks up, and seeing him, races over.  She throws herself into his arms and sobs quietly into his shoulder.  Danny’s stunned, but he wraps her up in his arms and holds onto her tight. 

            “Hey sweetie, what happened?” he murmurs into her hair a moment later, when he feels her little sobs slow.

            She picks her head up from his shoulder and bats stubbornly at the tears streaming down her cheeks.  “Mr. Steve wasn’t there,” she whispers, fresh tears springing to her eyes.  “He’s sick and couldn’t come to the rec room for activities so I didn’t get to say good-bye.”  Grace presses her face against Danny’s neck again as a wave of sadness comes over her again.

            “Oh sweetie,” he murmurs into her hair.  He looks over her head and sees Grace’s teacher walking towards them with a concerned look on her face so he gently pulls Grace back from him a little.  “Why don’t you go ahead and get buckled, Monkey, and decide what you want for dinner, okay?  Then we’ll head home.”  He plants a kiss on her forehead and wipes away her tears as she nods. 

            He’s just closing the car door behind Grace when her teacher reaches them. Danny looks up at her and sighs at the heartbroken look on her face.  “What happened?” he asks, fearing just what her answer will be.

            “Mr. Steve wasn’t feeling well all week and took a turn for the worst last night.  His nurse couldn’t tell me too much, but he developed an infection in one of his IV sites.  They’re optimistic, but not getting to see him really upset Grace.  And it really upset Steve, his nurse told me.”  She casts a glance at the car and frowns.  “I didn’t know it would upset her so much though.”

            Danny just nods.  He hadn’t been expecting this kind of reaction from Grace either.  He knows that Grace had grown close to the man in the weeks that she had been visiting, but until this very moment, he had no idea how close they had really been.  “Maybe I’ll call the hospital and see if they’ll let me bring Grace in one time, so she can say good-bye,” he murmurs thoughtfully.

            Grace teacher just nods.  “I can get you the contact information if you wish, and his nurse’s name as well.”  When Danny nods his approval, she smiles kindly and bends down to wave to Grace.  “Have a good night, Mr. Williams.”

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	6. Chapter 6

**Through the Darkness – Part Six**  
 **Fandom:**   Hawaii Five-0  
 **Pairing:**   Steve/Danny (pre-slash)  
 **Rating:**   PG-13

  
  


            Danny is glad that Grace is such an easy-going child.  Despite her disappointment of not getting to say good-bye to Steve, she perks up a bit at Danny’s mention of pizza and cleaning out the spare bedroom tonight.  Grace has been curious about the house since they’d moved in.  Danny would often find her staring at the pencil measurements on the inside of the closet door for “Stevie” and “Mary Ann” or nosing through the couple of boxes they’d found tucked away in the attic. 

            At first, Danny had told Grace not to peek through the boxes.  They were someone else’s property.  Mary Ann McGarrett’s property to be exact, and now her brother Steve’s as well.  Danny had every intention of forwarding the boxes along to her, but had yet to do it since finding them weeks ago.  Now though, he figures what could it hurt to let Grace sit on the floor in the spare bedroom and go through a box or two, as long as she doesn’t get pizza grease on anything.

            By the time the pizza arrived, Grace had already gone through one box of stuffed animals and dolls and is digging through a second box.  When Danny gets back up stairs, baseball card, sports trophies, and papers surround her.  She has a stack of pictures in her hand and is flipping through them eagerly.

            “Look Danno!” Grace holds up a picture of a middle-aged man standing next to a young boy in a football uniform. 

            Danny puts the pizza on the floor and drops on his butt next to Grace.  He takes the picture and smiles, easily recognizing John McGarrett and what must be a young Steve.  “That’s neat kiddo.  Why don’t you put these away and we can eat some pizza, okay?”  He hands the picture over to her and starts to collect the pieces of paper from the floor, realizing belatedly that they’re sport certificates and report cards as he’s stacking them.

            Grace huffs out a sigh, but does as she’s told, putting all the pictures and trophies back in the box.  It isn’t until she gets to the last one though, that her face lights up.  “It’s Steve, Danno!”

            Danny just nods along, but Grace grabs his arms and forces his attention back to her.  “Yeah, Gracie,” he answers her.  “The little boy who lived here was named Steve and the little girl’s name was Mary.”

            “No, Danno.”  Grace’s more insistent now, shoving a picture frame into his hands.  “It’s Super Steve!”

            Danny looks down at the picture Grace handed him and is shocked to see a familiar man in Navy dress blues staring back at him.  Steven McGarrett.  Son of John McGarrett.  Mary Ann McGarrett’s “pain in the ass” older brother.  Gracie’s Super Steve.  They were all the same person.

            “You look like a fish, Danno,” Grace giggles as Danny opens and closes his mouth a few times, unable to comprehend anything to say.

            “Wow,” he finally settles on, though the monologue in his head is a bit more R-rated.  He can’t stop staring at the face staring back at him and wondering how all this time, eight weeks now, he hadn’t put all the pieces together.

            As they walk through the front doors of the hospital again, Danny still can’t quite wrap his head around what they’re about to do.  He stares down at Grace as she bounces in step along with him.  When he’d announced yesterday that they were going to visit Steve, Grace had nearly tackled him with the force of her hug.  She’d wrapped her arms so tight around his neck she’d nearly choked him and kept squealing out 'thank you'.  He knew it was the right thing to do, after all he had learned about Steve, after learning about all Grace had done for Steve, it was the only option.

            “Hi, Danny and Grace Williams here to visit-”

            “Super Steve!” Grace chirps from beside him.

            Danny watches at the guard smiles kindly down at her, then glances back up at Danny.  He motions for Danny to sign the book as he pulls out a visitor’s badge and waves them through with a smile. 

            Grace takes his hand and starts to drag him down the hall, not even hesitating at the twists and turns the hallways take.  When they near the nurse’s station and the rec room, Danny is surprised to hear a chorus of voices call out a “Hey Grace!”.  The nurses all peek up over the desk to wave to her and smile kindly at Danny as they pass.  One nurse in particular though, comes around the desk to greet them.

            “Well well well.  If it isn’t the famous artist making her return!  How are ya _keiki_?!”  The tall, dark skinned nurse kneels down and finds himself on the receiving end of one of Grace’s best hugs.

            “Hi Mak!  We’re here to see Super Steve!”  Grace beams, then tugs on Danny’s hand.  “Danno, this is Mak!”

            “Ah!  The infamous Danno.  Pleasure to meet you,” Mak stands and extends his hand out Danny.  “I’m Steve’s nurse.”

            “Danny Williams, Grace’s father.”  He introduces himself and is glad to finally have a face to put with the Mak Grace is constantly talking about.

            “Well Grace,” Mak starts, “Super Steve is feeling a bit better today.  I’m sure he’ll be happy to see you.  I’ll be in a little later with Steve’s dinner, are you going to work your magic again for me?”

            “Yep!” Grace beams then starts to tug Danny down the hall to a familiar room.

            When he walks in this time though, the scene is completely different.  Steve isn’t sitting in his wheelchair by the window, but lying in bed with his eyes closed.  He’s pale save for the bright flush of fever on his cheeks, and he’s got an oxygen cannula snaking under his nose.  The heart monitor flickers on screen and there are three IV bags of different sizes hooked on a pole next to his bed.  He looks like a completely different person than the man Danny had seen just two weeks ago.  He’s beginning to think that this might have been a really bad idea when Steve’s eyes crack open.

            Danny is going to hold Gracie back, but she slips his grip and is moving up to Steve’s bed before he can stop her.  She’s all smiles and exuberance as she plops down in the chair next to the head of his bed and greets him with a cheery “Hi Super Steve!”

            It takes a minute for Steve to fully drag himself from slumber, but then he’s quickly smiling at Grace and raising the head of his bed bit so he’s sitting up.

            “Hey Gracie.  What’re you doing here?” his voice is a bit rough from the infection, but Grace barely seems to notice.

            “Danno brought me so we could visit you!  We missed our visit on Wednesday because you were sick, so Danno said we could come today!”

            At the mention of Danno, Steve flicks his eyes up to where Danny has been hovering in the doorway.  Danny can tell the moment Steve recognizes him because his eyes go wide in surprise.  He recovers a second later and waves a hand at him.

            “Detective Williams,” he starts, then seems unsure of how to continue.

            “Please, call me Danny,” Danny offers as he moves further into the room, snagging the extra chair and pulling it up to sit next to Grace.  “I hope you don’t mind us dropping in like this, but Grace really wanted to see you.”

            “No, I don’t mind at all.”

            When Steve’s eyes go back to Grace, he is all smiles once again and Danny is amazed at how his face simply lights up.  He leans back in his chair for a while and just watches as the two of them visit.  Grace does most of the talking because Steve starts to cough if he talks too much, but Grace doesn’t seem to mind.  She tells Steve about all sorts of things, about their class visit to the zoo the last week and how she wants to try surfing because it looks so cool and just how many chocolate chips constitutes a good chocolate chip cookie.  At the mention of cookies, Grace suddenly turns back to Danny with a frown on her face.

            “We forgot the cookies, Danno!” she laments.  “I’m sorry Super Steve, I forgot your cookies.”

            “That’s okay, Gracie,” Steve tries to console her, but she won’t have any of it.

            “No, you need your cookies.  Mak said so!”  Grace hops out of her chair and starts heading for the door when Danny stops her.

            “Where are you going, kiddo?”

            “To see if Mak has any cookies for Steve,” she states simply, like Danny should’ve known that was the plan all along.  Before he or Steve can protest though, she’s out the door and down the hall.

            Steve chuckles and shifts himself in bed.  He looks over at Danny as an awkward silence falls over the room.  “She’s quite a kid,” Steve states quietly.

            “Yeah, that she is.”

            After another moment, Steve opens his mouth to say something else, but Danny interrupts him.  “I had no idea until the other night that you were … well you know, the same Steve.”  Danny’s hands buzz about as he gestures to Steve.  “I mean how many Steves are there in the world, what are the chances that the Steve my daughter meets, the Steve that used to live in my house, and the Steve involved in my cold case are all the same guy?!”

            Steve is saved from having to answer as Grace comes waltzing back into the room carrying a napkin with a cookie on it.  She quickly hands it over to Steve and smiles.  “Mak found some but he said to see if you liked it before I got you anymore.  They aren’t homemade, but they are cookies,” Grace reasons.  When Steve doesn’t make to eat it right away, Grace pulls out her best pout face and Steve quickly takes a bite of the cookie, chewing slowly and nodding to Grace with a smile.

            “Yay!” she cries out and runs back towards the door.  “I’ll see if Mak has anymore,” she calls out over her shoulder.

            The moment she’s out the door, Steve’s smile drops away and he’s working to swallow the cookie in his mouth.  Once he swallows it, he reaches for the water and takes a long swallow and sighs.

            “No good?” Danny questions with a smirk on his face, silently wondering just how bad a chocolate chip cookie could really be and why he’d hide it from Grace.

            Steve just shakes his head as he deposits the rest of the cookie on his tray table.  “It’s not that bad.  I’m just not a huge fan of chocolate,” he admits quietly.

            Danny laughs at his expression.  He can’t help it.  Steve looks so ashamed to admit it, like a scolded little kid.  “So just tell her that, she won’t care.”

            “No,” Steve’s shaking his head vehemently.  “It’s kind of our thing, ya know.  Our third visit together, Grace had cookies left over in her lunch and she shared one with me.  They were cookies you two had made.  They were pretty good, even though I don’t really like chocolate.  Ever since then she’s brought me cookies.  I can’t just tell her I don’t want them, especially since Mak told her that I needed to eat more cookies.”  Steve scowls at that, but then shrugs.  “It’s not a big deal, really.  It’s just one cookie.”

            Danny chuckles at that, remembering all the times he had grinned through a meal Grace had made just to make her smile and keep her happy.  The pains that came along with fatherhood, he thought.  But seeing Steve doing it, it just reaffirmed how special the bond was Grace and Steve had. 

            “So what kind of cookies do you really like?” Danny questioned, leaning back in his chair and kicking his feet up on the end of the bed next to Steve’s. 

            Steve watches him curiously for a minute, then relaxes back against the pillows and thinks about it for a moment.  “Peanut butter.  Or oatmeal raisin,” he finally decides, then cuts his eyes to Danny.  “If I’m going to have chocolate though, I like white chocolate macadamia.” 

            Danny laughs but makes a mental note to look up a recipe for he and Grace to try so they can bring Steve a kind of cookie he actually likes next time.  It takes him by surprise that he’s already planning another visit, but it seems like the natural course of things.  He can’t just cut off their visits; Grace obviously means a lot to Steve and he means a lot to Grace.  And after all Steve has been through, all the things he still has to struggle through, he’ll probably need Grace’s cheerful smiles.

            Grace coming back into the room breaks him from his thoughts. He can’t help but laugh when Grace comes back with a plateful of cookies and a wide smile on her face.  Steve tries to look happy, though Danny thinks he looks a bit green at the gills in face of so much chocolate.  So much for ‘just one cookie’.

            Mak comes in to check on them a little bit later, armed with a stockpile of paper and a container full of crayons, markers, and colored pencils.  When Grace eyes it, her eyes grow wide in her face and she quickly reaches for them.  Steve moves the tray table over so Grace can reach it and just like that, both Steve and Grace are engrossed in drawing and chatting.  Danny looks up at Mak and shrugs his shoulder, but follows the nurse out of the room.

            “Mak, can I ask you a question?”  Danny asks once they are out of the room.

            “Sure,”  Mak makes a few quick notes on the computer, then turns his full attention to Danny.  “What can I do for you Detective?”  When Danny looks at him confused, Mak just smirks.  “Word travels fast around here, man.  Pretty trippy that the little girl that Steve’s grown so attached to is the daughter of the cop investigating his father’s murder.”

            “Yeah, pretty trippy,” Danny mutters, shaking his head.  A few of the nurses probably remembered his visits with Chin and put it all together.  He shrugs it off and glances back at Steve’s room for a moment contemplatively.  “I know this is not the norm, but can I leave my number with you.  You know, just in case Steve needs anything?”  Danny pauses awkwardly for a moment, eyes once again drawn back to the room where his daughter is.  “I know his sister Mary is his next of kin and his emergency contact, but she’s not on the island and can’t get here fast if something happens.

            “I know, this sounds crazy.  I was just thinking Grace and I’ll be around more.  I mean Grace and Steve are really attached, I can’t just not keep bringing her.  So we’ll be around if Steve needs anything.”  Somewhere along making his point, Danny thinks he got off track and started rambling, arms flying around in a haphazard arc around him.  But to his annoyance Mak is just smirking at him with a knowing look on his face, like he knows exactly what Danny’s asking.

            “Grace does the same thing, ya know.  Her little arms go crazy when she’s trying to make a point.”  Mak reaches into his scrub pants and produces a pen and notepad.  “I’ll have to clear it with Mary, and Steve, but I don’t see any reason not to keep your number on file.”

            He hands over the notepad and Danny is relieved that Mak isn’t going to make this any harder for him than it already is.  He’s not sure he can exactly describe it, but he feels connected to Steve somehow.  He could no more walk away from Steve right now than Grace could.  Maybe it’s because of the case, maybe it’s because of the way he and Grace are so close, or maybe its something else entirely.  Whatever it is, Danny can’t just leave Steve alone.

            He scribbles his home and cell numbers down and hands it back to Mak gratefully.  “Thank you.” 

            It’s still weird to walk into the bullpen with Meka and Chin, but Danny thinks it’s starting to grow on him; he kind of likes working with a team.  Meka and Chin are a lot like oil and water; they can occupy the same space and work around each other and have no problems, but they aren’t exactly friendly with one another.  For all his spit and vinegar attitude, somehow Danny has become the bonding agent between the two of them.  When Danny’s there, they all work and get along great.  When Danny’s out of the picture, things return to their oil and water state. 

            When Danny walks into the bullpen, eyes still turn towards him and words are still murmured between colleagues, but they have a different tone now.  For the most part, Danny still ignores them, heading over to his desk where Meka and Chin are already working.  Danny drops the bag of malasadas down between the two of them and watches in amusement as the aroma of fresh coffee distracts them both.   When they turn their attention to him, he hands off their coffees and pulls out his chair.

            “So guess who I met yesterday?”  Danny takes a bite out of his malasada and scrolls through the multitude of emails waiting in his inbox.  Seeing nothing of great importance, he turns back to Meka and Chin, catching their questioning looks.  “Super Steve.”

            Meka coughs and sputters on his coffee and Chin looks completely intrigued.  “You went to visit him?  I thought Grace already had her last visit.” Meka states, wiping the coffee from his chin and his shirt.

            “Yeah, well … he ended up not being there because he was sick, so I decided to take her for one last visit.  Turns out he’s someone we already know,” Danny looks pointedly at Chin.  “Super Steve’s real name is Steve … McGarrett.”

            Chin’s eyes grow wide before a smile steals over his face.  Meka looks confused for a moment.  “Wait.  McGarrett as in …” Meka gestures to the files spread around their desk.

            Danny nods.  “Yep.  One in the same.”  Danny huffs out a laugh remembering the shock that must’ve been on both their faces when they had come face to face yesterday.  “You should’ve seen his face when he saw me.  I’m sure I had the same expression on my face.”

            “That’s amazing,” Chin finally gets out, grinning cheerfully.  “That’s great for Steve to have something so pure and happy in his life, especially right now.”

            “Wait.  That was their last visit, right?  That’s what you said, it was their last visit.”  Meka sits forward in his chair and implores of Danny.  “Danny, you aren’t taking Grace back there again, are you?”

            “What’s wrong with that?”  Chin asks, suddenly defensive.  Seeing the sudden emotion from Chin unsettles Danny for a moment, so used to seeing Chin take everything with a stoic face.  “Grace and Steve have obviously formed a special bond, it would just be cruel to sever it now.  I don’t think there is anything wrong with what they share.  Grace is healing Steve in more ways that one.”

            “That’s just the thing!  Grace is 8 years old!  She shouldn’t have to _heal_ anyone!”  Meka throws his hands up in annoyance at Chin, but turns back to Danny.  “It was a community service project for school, man.  It’s done and over with, let her go back to her life.  She’s 8, Danny.  She shouldn’t be spending time in hospitals trying to cheer someone up.  She should be playing with kids her own age.”

            “That’s ridiculous.  Grace obviously wants to keep visiting Steve.  Danny would never make her do something she didn’t want to do!” Chin defends, voice pitched low and serious.

            “Okay, easy you two!”  Danny waves his hands between the two of them, trying to break the sudden tension.  “I didn’t bring this up so you two could jump at each other’s throats!  The truth is, I _was_ worried about Grace.  But after seeing her with Steve, I don’t know man.  I just can’t keep her from him.”  Danny shrugs at Meka.  “I have thought about all of this.  I don’t want to force Grace to grow up too soon, but man I have to tell you, she brings out something in Steve that is just so … pure and happy.  He honestly lights up when she’s in the room.  And Grace … well she loves spending time with Steve.  All she could talk about last night on the way home was how excited she was to go back and see him.”

            Danny leans back in his chair once again and swirls the last dregs of coffee around his cup contemplatively.  Meka looks concerned and, for the life of him, Danny just can’t understand why.  The silence is broken when a uniformed officer comes up and requests Chin for a moment.  Once Chin is out of hearing range, Meka sits up and leans over his desk so he’s close to Danny.

            “I just want to go on record here and say this sounds like a really bad idea, man.  It’s your life, it’s Gracie’s life, and I know you’ll do what you think is right, but I just want you to think about it.  What if something happens to this guy?  How is Grace going to react?”  Meka leans back in his chair again and starts flipping through the stack of reports on his desk.  “Just think about it, Williams.”

            Danny has though, he’s thought about it all and he still comes up with the same conclusion.  Steve is now a part of their lives that he can’t just cut out, even if he wanted to.  And right now, Danny doesn’t want to.

     

            It takes all the effort he can muster, but Steve drags his lagging left leg the last few inches to meet up with his right one.  He lets out a heavy sigh and clutches tight to the bars on either side of him to keep from collapsing as his exhausted legs quake beneath him.  Behind him, he can hear Kono cheering him on. 

            “Come on, Steve.  You’ve got it, just one more step.”

            In front of him, Keoni is nodding his encouragement, beckoning Steve on.  He’s tired and he’s honestly not sure if he can make his legs move one more step.  He knows if he told them no, told them how shaky he feels, they would call it to a stop right now.  But Steve digs down deeper, down to those last energy reserves he called up on during basic training and BUD/S and on countless missions.  He pushes his right leg forward and is dragging his left leg up behind it when he catches a flash of something in the hall. 

            Steve picks his head up watches as Grace’s head once again pokes around the corner of the door.  When she catches sight of Steve this time, a smile flashes across her face as she waves to him.  Steve can’t relinquish his grip on the bars to wave back, but he smiles up at her as bright and wide as he can manage and forces his legs to take another step.  A second later Danny appears in the doorway, he’s shaking his head and muttering something Steve can’t make out from this distance.  Grace points over to where Steve is and Danny shakes his head again.  He waves over to Steve then nudges Grace to get moving.  Grace pouts, but waves one last time to Steve and zips back out of the room as fast as she had appeared.

            Once she is out of sight, Steve sags a bit against the bars and feels Kono’s hands ease around his arms.  “Okay Super SEAL, I think we’re done for the day.  What do ya say?”  Steve just nods, trying to catch his breath.

            Keoni steps up then, holding on to Steve, taking some of his weight while Kono maneuvers the wheelchair up behind him.  Once he’s seated again, he feels a bit better.  He allows Kono to steer him over to the window and, like so many times before, she gently stretches out and massages the tired muscles in his legs.  When her fingers brush the knot of scar tissue on his left thigh, she presses a bit harder.

            “How’s the leg holding up?” she asks, looking up at him.

            “It’s all right,” he admits.  He’s still frustrated that he can’t take more than a few steps before he’s too tired to move anymore.  “It’s slow going,” he answers and watches as Kono nods up at him.

            “Yeah, I know you want to be going faster, but it’ll come back on its own time, Steve.  Your legs took a vacation there for a while and they lost some of their muscle tone.  It’ll all come back and you’ll be walking like normal again in no time.  Just don’t push yourself too hard, yeah?”  Kono stands up and grabs the heat pack, bringing back over and laying it on Steve’s left thigh.  “Let’s let those muscles relax a bit.”  She eases back down on the floor and starts making notes in Steve’s chart.

            “So have you and Chin been talking?” Steve questions and watches as Kono cuts a glance out of the corner of her eye.  Steve smiles down at her, glad to finally have something to lord over her; it’s pay back for all the times she’d held stuff over him.

            “Yeah,” she answers grudgingly, but then lightens up after a few moments.  “It’s still a bit awkward, but it’s good to have him back in my life.  We used to be close, but then with everything that happened …” Kono trails off and stares up at Steve for a moment in thought.  “I’m going back to school,” she admits after a moment. 

            “Really?  For what?” Steve asks.  He’d learned all about how she’d come into therapy and wonders if she is going back to school for that or something new.

            “I’m going to be starting at the Police Academy next month,” she answers and Steve gapes at her in shock.  She laughs and swats at Steve’s calf.  “It’s not that shocking, is it?!  I can be a cop.  I’ll be a great cop!”  Steve’s too stunned to answer her, but he just shakes his head.  “I idolized Chin when I was growing and told everyone that I was going to be a cop too when he started at the academy.  But then surfing came along and the whole situation with Chin happened and becoming a cop in the family became taboo.  But I don’t know, lately I’ve been thinking about it more and more.  I think I can do.”

            Kono shrugs her shoulders like it’s not a big deal, but Steve smiles at her.  “No, it’s great,” he reassures her.  “I think you’ll be a great cop.”

            Kono just rolls her eyes at him and takes the heat off his leg.  “All right, let’s get you back to your room before Grace comes in search of you again!”  Steve laughs and pulls his legs back up on to the footrests as Kono grabs his chart.  “You know, Super SEAL,” Kono remarks as they are making their way down the hall, “If you keep improving at this rate, you’ll be allowed back out in the real world soon.”

            They stop in the doorway of his room and Steve looks in at Grace and Danny sitting on his bed talking animatedly about something.  A smile steals over Steve’s face and he nods to Kono.  “I know.  I’m looking forward to it.”

           

            When Grace spots him in the doorway, she jumps up from the bed and rushes to meet him.  “Hi Steve,” she beams, then wraps a hand around the arm of Steve’s wheelchair and walks with him into the room.  “Guess what?!  We have real food tonight!”

            “Oh really?  What do we have tonight?” Steve questions as he stops next to the bed where Danny is still sitting.  There is a bag next to him that is giving off the most delicious aroma.  It’s a bit of a tradition now, Danny and Grace coming by a few days a week with what Grace dubs real food; pizza, burgers, hoagies, whatever they were eating for dinner that night.  Grace had started insisting on it one night when they had stopped by for a visit and she saw Steve’s untouched dinner tray of a dry piece of chicken and a mound of odd-looking vegetables.  At first they would bring him food in place of his dinner, but now they were bringing their dinner here to eat _with_ him.  He wasn’t sure he could express just how much it touched him.

            Danny just quirks an eyebrow at him as he starts digging plates and napkins and silverware out of the bag.  “It’s a surprise,” he replies, eyeing Gracie to keep her from spilling their secret.  She slaps hand over her mouth to keep in her giggles.  “Help me set the table kid,” Danny passes her the plates and gets to work on lowering the tray table and extending it so they can fit three plates on it.

            “You didn’t have work today?” Steve asks as he helps Danny adjust the table.  When Danny looks at him in confusion, Steve motions to Danny.  “No tie,” he states simply with a shrug of his shoulder.  “It’s not often I see you without one hanging off your neck.”

            “Oh right, another wisecrack about a tie from a Hawaiian.  That’s creative.”  Danny rolls his eyes playfully.  “I’ll have you know some of us actually have to look professional during the day.  Not everyone can relax all day in sweat pants.”

            Grace looks up at her father in confusion, but Steve just chuckles, shaking his head in disbelief at Danny. 

            Danny smiles over at them.  “No, actually I took the day off.  Gracie had the day off of school so I took it off too.  We wanted to get here earlier, but well,”  Danny takes the cover off the dish and shows off their dinner.  “Grace wanted to make lasagna for dinner and it took all day.”

              Steve’s mouth is watering at the sight of the lasagna, stomach grumbling appreciatively.  “All day?” he asks, glancing between Grace and Danny curiously.  Sure it’s been a long time since he had made a meal from scratch, but he was pretty sure it didn’t take all day to make lasagna.

              “Yes, all day.  Or well, the better part of the day!”  Danny sounds exasperated, but Steve knows better.  He can sense the hint of pride in Danny’s voice.  “First I had to call my mother to get the recipe.  And now I realize you have never had the pleasure of talking to my mother on the phone, so let me tell you that she has got quite the mouth on her.  She can talk your ear off for hours!” 

              “Hours, Steve.  They were on the phone forever!” Grace’s exasperation is real as she rolls her eyes in annoyance.  Danny chuckles at her.

              “She is not exaggerating either!  So once I finally had the recipe, we had to go to the grocery store to pick up the ingredients.”

              “Twice,” Grace adds, a smirk on her face.

              “Yes, twice.  Because on our first trip to the store, we forgot a staple ingredient.”  Danny starts dishing out the lasagna and Steve’s mouth is water when a plate is set in front of him.

              “Danno forgot the tomato sauce!” Grace exclaims, arms thrown out wide.  “I told him we needed it, but he just didn’t listen.” She sounds so much older than her eight years in that moment, sounds more like a nagging mother than a little girl.  Steve can’t help but laugh when she puts her hands on her hips and gives Danny a frustrated look.

              “Right.  Forgot the sauce.  So then we got home and, well it’s been a really long time since I’ve made lasagna from scratch so it took quite a while to get it all together.”  Danny digs in to his piece with gusto and smiles.

            Steve’s already half way through his first piece and pauses long enough to return Danny’s smile.  “It’s really good, Danno.  Thank you.”  Steve takes another bite and sighs contentedly.

            “And to think we haven’t even gotten to the good part yet!” Danny says.  When Steve stops mid-chew and glances between the two of them, Danny just laughs.  “Go ahead Monkey, show him.”

            Grace jumps up from her chair and makes a show of digging around in the bag for a moment before she comes up with something.  She turns to Steve with a flourish and shows off a bag full of cookies.  “White chocolate macadamia nut cookies!”  Grace exclaims, handing the bag over to Steve with a wide smile.  “Danno and I had to look up a recipe because we’ve never made them before, but they smelled really good when they were in the oven!”

            “Yeah, they did.  Hopefully they taste as good as they smell,” Danny adds.  He reaches over the table and takes the bag out of Steve’s hand.  He opens it and digs out three, passing them around.  “I don’t see any reason to save these for desert,” he comments, smiling over at Steve.  “I think Mak will approve.”

            Steve laughs and accepts the cookie.  “Yeah, he will definitely approve.  I hope you have enough to share!”         

     

            “All right, I think you’re done for the day,” Keoni remarks, watching as Steve pauses between the bars. 

            “No, I’m good.  I can go a few more.”  Steve grunts out.  He keeps his eyes focused straight ahead where Kono is standing.  She’s watching him like a hawk, ready to pounce at a moment’s notice should Steve falter.  He grins at her and forces his feet to keep moving.  He’s tired and shaky, but that’s nothing new.  Steve knows that he won’t get anywhere if he doesn’t push himself a little more each day.  His goal today is to finally walk the entire length of the bars, unaided.

            He takes two more steps and has to reach out quickly to keep his balance.  Once he’s steadier, he lets go and gives a smirk to a frowning Kono.  She doesn’t approve of him pushing himself, neither does Keoni for that that matter, but he’ll be damned if he’s going to ease up now, not when he’s so close.  Steve pushes his aching left leg out in front of him, ready to close in on that last step, when his leg buckles underneath him.

            He is mid-step when he starts to fall, crashing sideways and colliding hard with the bar before he plummets to the ground.  There are pads on the floor, but it does little to cushion the blow he takes.  Pain lances up his spine when he collapses to the ground, stealing his breath.  Steve lays there for a moment trying to catch his breath back.  Above him, Kono’s worried face appears.  Her lips are moving but Steve can’t hear a thing over the intense ringing in his ears.  He opens his mouth to tell her that when pain rips up his back again.  This time, though, it doesn’t fade out, it jumps up and down his back with each breath he takes, centered around a spot in the middle of his back that is a solid mass of agony.  A moan escapes his lips and Steve immediately tries to move, to roll off of his back and get away from the pain, but there are hands him holding him still and faces blurring in and out of his line of sight.  He can’t keep track of it all so he focuses on his breathing, trying to slow it down and hopefully lessen the pain.

            Kono’s face finally slides back into focus a moment later, she’s not looking at him but yelling at someone over her shoulder.  It’s then that Steve realizes she’s practically pinning him to the ground with her body to keep him still, and it’s then that Steve realizes he’s still trying to move.  He can barely think and focus passed the pain but he tries to consciously lock it down and still his movements.

            “Steve?  Are you with me?”  Kono’s voice still sounds far away, but it’s becoming clearer with each passing moment.

            Steve tries to nod his head but finds that he can’t.  His eyes flies open in terror before Kono shakes her head quickly.  She still looks scared, but she meets his eyes and tries to keep him calm.

            “Don’t move Steve.  Keoni is keeping your head still.  I need you to stay still.  Do you understand me?”

            “Yeah,” Steve croaks out, surprised that his voice sounds so raw and wrecked.

            “Okay, good.”  Some of the tension eases off Kono’s face.  She turns over her shoulder again and barks out, “Page Dr. Waincroft again and get me a gurney in here now.”  When Kono turns back to Steve, she slowly eases off his body, but keeps her hands on his chest.  “Okay Steve, I need you tell me how you feel.  What hurts?”

            Steve tries to draw in a deeper breath and the pain flares again.  He slams his eyes closed and groans.  Kono’s hand finds his and squeezes gently, encouraging him.  “My back,” he finally whispers, finding it hard to open his eyes now that they are closed.

            “Steve, I need you to open your eyes for me.  Did you hit your head?” 

            Kono’s voice is a little more urgent now and Steve makes a valiant effort to pry his eyes open.  He manages for a moment, catches sight of Kono’s worried face, before they slipped closed again. 

            “No, Steven.  Open your eyes.”

            Her voice is frantic now but Steve just can’t do it.  He manages to squeeze her hand back, but the pain is ratcheting up and he just can’t stay awake any longer.

            The moment Steve goes limp in her grasp, Kono feels sick to her stomach; she wants to scream in frustration.  Instead, she rubs her knuckles roughly along Steve’s sternum trying to rouse him but he doesn’t respond.

            “Check his pulse,” she chokes out to Keoni before turning back to one of the other therapists.  “Have we gotten Malia?”

            “She’s on her way up right now, she should be here in a minute.  The gurney’s on it’s way up too.”

            “His pulse is fast and thread.  Breathing is labored.” Keoni reports anxiously.  “A simple fall would cause this.  What the hell is going on?”

            Kono sags with the news, afraid of what this means.  “He’s bleeding out.”  When Keoni looks up at her sharply, questioningly, she just shakes her head.  “He’s still got frag around his spine.  The fall could’ve shifted it.”

            Before Keoni can say anything else, Dr. Waincroft is rushing into the room, a team of orderlies with a gurney on her heels.  “What happened?” she asks breathlessly as she kneels down on the ground next to Kono.

            “He left leg buckled and he fell.” Kono answers succinctly, then pauses.  She looks over at Dr. Waincroft, fear in her eyes.  “He hit his back on the bar before he hit the ground.”

            Malia looks over her patient, at the awkward way he is laying with his legs tangled up beneath him, at the way Kono is leaning over him still, hands holding his upper body, and feels a pit open up in her stomach.  “Was he conscious at all?  Was he trying to move?”

            “Only his upper body.”  Kono’s voice cracks and she has to swallow hard to keep her emotions in check.  “He was conscious for a few moments, though he was disoriented.  He was in a lot of pain before he passed out.”

            “I don’t like his pulse or his breathing, we need to move him now!”

            In a matter of moments, Dr. Waincroft, Kono, and Keoni, have Steve completely immobilized on a backboard.  The team of orderlies is rushing him out of the room a second later.  Kono goes to follow them, but a hand on her arm stops her.  Malia is looking at her with worried eyes.

            “I need you inform Mak of what happened.  Get Steve’s family here.  Now.”

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	7. Chapter 7

**Through the Darkness – Part Seven**  
 **Fandom:**   Hawaii Five-0  
 **Pairing:**   Steve/Danny (pre-slash)  
 **Rating:**   PG-13

  
  


            Danny is staring at his computer screen, trying desperately to focus when his phone starts to vibrate across his desk.  He glances down, disappointed when it’s not Chin’s number displaying on the screen.  He’d really hoped Chin would’ve heard something by now, but all has been quiet on the Hesse front since Doran’s body surface two weeks ago.  Sighing, Danny grabs the phone and quickly answers it.

            “Williams.”

            “Detective Williams, its Mak,” the voice on the other end states and it takes Danny’s tired brain a moment to connect the dots.

            “Hey Mak, what’s Super Steve up to today?  Causing trouble?” He asks nonchalantly as he leans back in his chair.  Just like that, his mind is switched off from work and already thinking about what he and Grace will take to have for dinner with Steve tonight.  Grace had wanted Chinese in the car this morning, but she changed her mind like the wind lately.

            It takes Danny a moment to realize that Mak hasn’t responded.  “Mak?”

            “Uh, yeah, sorry Danny.” 

            Danny hears it then, a note of apprehension in Mak’s voice.  He sounds stressed or upset.  “What’s going on Mak?”

            “It’s Steve, Danny.  He, uh, he fell in therapy this afternoon.” 

            He sits up straighter in his chair and his sudden movement catches Meka’s attention.  Meka’s watching him with a concerned look.  “Is he okay?”

            “No.  They had to rush him to surgery about twenty minutes ago.”  Mak’s voice is strained as he relays the news.  “The frag in his back shifted.  It moved deeper and nicked an artery.  He was bleeding out.  Dr. Waincroft asked me to get Steve’s family here as soon as possible.”  Mak’s voice cracks and Danny can hear him taking a shaky breath.  “I’m sorry Danny, it doesn’t look good.  You need to get here.”

            “I’m on my way,” he stutters out.  Danny sits there for a moment, shell-shocked as he stares down at his phone, before he is springing into action.  His hands are shaky as they scramble for his keys.

            “Whoa.  Hey Danny.  What’s up?”  Meka grabs Danny’s keys and holds them just out of Danny’s reach. 

            He’s not doing it to be mean, Danny knows, he’s just concerned, but Danny doesn’t have time for Meka’s games.  Danny snatches his keys away but finds his wrist held captive in his partner’s firm grip.  He looks worried.

            “It’s Steve,” he murmurs.  His voice doesn’t sound like it belongs to him, weak and shaky.  “Something happened.  He’s not good.  I need to get there.”

            Meka blows out a breath and nods.  “Okay.  I’ll drive you.”

            Danny is nodding for a moment before he quickly shakes his head.  “No, I need you to pick up Grace.”  When Meka looks like he wants to argue, Danny shakes his head again, trying to collect himself.  “Please Meka.  I need someone to pick up Grace when she gets out of school and bring her to the hospital.  I need to be at the hospital if there is any news so I _need_ you to take care of my daughter for me.  _Please_ Meka.”

            Meka still looks unsure, but he nods.  “Okay.  But at least let someone drive you, Danny.”

            “I’ll be okay,” Danny manages to give Meka a weak smile.  Meka drops his wrist and Danny immediately moves away.  He needs to call Mary and let her know what’s happened, but he needs to get to the hospital and find out exactly what’s going on first.

           

            Danny spent a good hour on the phone with Mary once he had gotten to the hospital.  He’d met up with Mak and Kono when he’d arrived and learned every detail he could from them before he called Steve’s sister.  Mary and Danny don’t have the record for the best phone conversations and this one is almost as bad as calling to inform her that her father was dead.  Predictably, Mary was upset and was rushing around, even as she was talking to Danny, to get a flight out. 

            He’d sat another hour before Meka and Chin came in.  As soon as Grace saw him, her little face fell.  If telling Mary about Steve had been hard, telling Grace had been near impossible.  She had taken it pretty well, her tears only lasting for a few minutes before she set to work on drawing Steve another Get Well card.

            Chin left at some point and came back with a frazzled, red-eyed Mary.  Meka left and Mak and Kono joined their little group in the waiting room.  It is just ticking over to eight o’clock when the doors to the waiting room open and an exhausted Dr. Waincroft walks up to them.  They all watch her with bated breath until she gives them a small smile.  The relief Danny feels is overwhelming.  He is glad he isn’t standing up because he is sure his knees would’ve buckled.  He takes a deep breath before he stands up to meet Malia.

            “How is he?” Danny rushes to ask before Malia can even start to open her mouth.

            “He’s holding his own” is her simple answer.  She motions for them all take a seat and slumps down into a chair across from them.  “The frag in his back nicked an artery and he’d lost a lot of blood by the time we opened him up.   We transfused him, but he kept losing blood until we finally got the artery tied off.”  Malia relaxes back in the chair, obviously tired from the long, stressful surgery, but she is smiling at them.  “We removed the rest of the frag and, despite our initial fears that it had pierced his spinal column, Steve is showing signs of reflex in both of his legs.”

            Danny lets out another breath and pulls Grace closer to his side.  She must understand, to a certain extent, what Malia has told them because she is grinning up at Danny.  Next to him, Mary is wiping her eyes and squeezing Chin’s hand.  Mak and Kono are looking relieved, sharing a quick hug.

            “That’s good, that’s really good,” Danny murmurs against the top of Grace’s head.  “Can we see him tonight?  Just for a minute to-”

            “Of course you can,” Malia answers before Danny can even defend his question.  She stands up, shaking Danny’s hand and giving it an extra squeeze.  “He’s in recovery right now, but once he’s settled in his room, you are more than welcome to visit with him.  He’ll be unconscious, but it’ll do everyone some good to see him.”

            The lights in the room are dimmed when Danny and Grace make their way in.  Steve’s laying propped up on his side, face pale but relaxed in sleep.  There’s a IV lines and heart monitor wires sticking out from under the blankets and an oxygen mask settled over his face, fogging gently with each breath.  Despite all of that, though, Danny thinks he looks good.  Great even.  Those hours of waiting and pacing had been filled with every worst case scenario imaginable, from Malia walking out with tears in her eyes telling them Steve was gone to Malia telling them Steve was paralyzed.  To see him now, resting comfortably and knowing he is going to pull through, it feels like a huge weight has been taken off his shoulders.

            Grace creeps silently up to the bed and just stands there for a moment, staring at Steve.  She looks like she wants to touch him but doesn’t want to cause more damage.  Danny closes the final steps to the bed, dragging the chair close to the edge.  Easing his tired body down, Danny pulls Grace up into his lap and then picks up Steve’s IV laden hand.  He smiles gently at Grace, nodding for her to do the same with Steve’s other hand.  After a moment’s hesitation, she does, picking up Steve’s large hand in-between hers and squeezing tight.

            Danny’s not sure how long they sit there like that, but it’s long enough for Grace to have nodded off against his shoulder.  His back is aching and his legs are asleep, but he just can’t find it in himself to move just yet.  Ten more minutes he tells himself, just ten more minutes and then he’ll take Grace home.

            Behind him, the door slowly creaks open and he turns to see Mary  standing there.  She’s still pale and red-eyed, but she looks more composed.  Danny suddenly feels like an ass for intruding.  It should’ve been Mary in here first, it should’ve been Mary taking up all the visiting time, not he and Grace.  Danny immediately starts to move, goes to stand up, but Mary is shaking her head.

            “I’m sorry, Mary.  We’ll get out of your way.  I know you want to spend some time with your brother,” he whispers, trying not to wake Steve and Grace.

            “No, it’s okay,” Mary answers back quickly, closing the door and easing into a chair next to Danny.  “I get it.  You guys are close.  You’re here for him more than I am.  It’s okay.”  

            Danny wants to protest, but somewhere along the lines his mouth and brain have become disconnected and the words don’t come.  Instead, he nods, eyes drawn back to where his hand is still holding Steve’s.  Grace shifts slightly in her sleep but even then she doesn’t let go of her hold on Steve.

            “We haven’t really gotten a chance to talk,” Mary starts, leaning back in the chair and propping her legs up on the foot of the bed.  “But Steve and I have talked.  And even if he doesn’t mean to, he talks about you two.  A lot.  I know how much you and your daughter mean to my brother, how much having you here has helped him.

            “Steve and I haven’t really spoken in a long time.  In fact, I think I’ve spoken to him more in the past few months than I have in the last 18 years.”  Mary shifts slightly in her chair, getting settled, her eyes never leaving Steve’s lax face.  “We were pretty close as kids, as close as brothers and sisters are at that age I guess.  But when Dad sent us to the main land, when he split us up, we just stopped talking.  And I know, I should’ve been here for him.  At first it was complications with work, but then I just wasn’t sure how to handle him, honestly.  He was so sullen and moody and depressed, I was still trying to deal with Dad’s deal and it was just too much.  But then, he started talking to me again and he was talking about Grace at first, and then you too.  And I just knew it wasn’t me he needed anymore.  He had everything he needed with you and Grace.  You are his family now and I didn’t want to disrupt that.”  Mary wipes a hand across her face trying to erase the tears trickling down her cheeks.

            Danny takes in a sharp breath at her words, but quickly recovers, easing his grip from Steve’s hand to reach out and pull Mary close.  Mary resists at first, but eventually she relaxes into his shoulder and shudders quietly.

            “You will always be his family,” Danny murmurs a while later, once Mary’s calmed down.  “You’re his little sister.  He loves you.  Nothing will ever change that.  And he will always need you, even if he says he doesn’t.  Sometimes big brother’s don’t like to admit it when we need our little sister’s help.”  Danny smiles down at her gives her shoulders a squeeze before letting her go.  “I don’t want you to think we were trying to replace you, Mary, because we weren’t.”

            “I know,” she whispers.  She reaches out and picks up Steve’s hand, brushing her thumb over his knuckles.  “He’ll hate the fact that we sat here all night,” she murmurs distractedly. 

            “Well, he’ll get over it because we’re staying.”  Danny states matter of factly.  He leans back in the chair more, stretching out his legs and easing Grace’s sleeping form into a more comfortable position.

            Mary laughs quietly at that.  Her eyes trail over to Danny and Grace, a real, honest smile curling up her lips.  “So this is the famous Grace,” she says.  “I feel like I already know her, Steve talks about her all the time.”  She turns her eyes away from Grace to look back to Danny.  “I can’t wait to meet her, ya know, in the morning.  If that’s okay with you.”

            “Of course,” Danny answers without hesitation.  “I’m sure Grace will be thrilled to meet you too.”

            Danny is sitting in the same chair two days later, only this time Grace isn’t sleeping in his lap.  She’s sitting at the foot of Steve’s bed next to Mary Ann.  They’re chatting away about some cartoon Grace is in love with and cutting shapes out of paper for a craft.  Steve had tried to keep up, but the pain meds had eventually won out and he is now dozing on and off.  Danny’s so relaxed sitting there that he too starts to feel himself drifting off to sleep until his phone starts to ring.

            Jerking awake, Danny scrambles to silence the ringer before it wakes Steve. Seeing Chin’s name displayed on the screen, Danny takes a few steps away so as not to disturb anyone.  “Hey Chin, what’s up?”  He asks, still trying to shake the sleep out of his voice.

            “We’ve got him.”  Chin answers quickly, voice anxious.

            “What?!”  
  
            “Hesse.  We got him.  He popped up on camera entering a port.”

            Danny swears under his breath, quietly.  “You’re sure its him?”

            “Facial recognition match of 99%.  We’ve tapped into their closed security feed and have tracked his movements to a Chinese freighter scheduled to leave port in an hour.”  Danny can hear Chin moving around, voices quick and anxious barking out orders in the background.  “We’ve got SWAT mobilized, just waiting on you Danny.”

            “Yeah,”  Danny scrubs a hand over his face.  “Okay, I’ll meet you there.  Text me the directions.”

            “Will do.  See ya soon, brah.”

            Danny hangs up the phone and takes a deep breath before turning back.  Steve is watching his every move and Danny has no doubt that the SEAL has listened to every word of his conversation.  Grace and Mary, though, seem oblivious and only casually glance up at him.  Danny slips his phone back in his pocket and pulls out his car keys. 

            “Hey Monkey, I have to go to work for a little bit.”

            Grace’s face falls before she looks from Mary to Steve.  “Can I stay here?  Pretty please Danno?!  I promise to be good.”

            “Gracie, I-”  Danny starts but Mary quickly interrupts him.

            “It’s okay if she wants to hangs out with us.”

            “Are you sure?  It won’t be a problem?”  Danny glances over to Steve, wanting to make sure he was okay with it as well.  He knows how tired Steve still gets from the pain meds and he doesn’t want to do anything that would keep Steve from getting better.

            “Not a problem at all,” Steve answers, smiling at Grace.  “She can stay as long as wants.”

            “Okay.  I, uh, I’ll be back as soon as I can.  Okay Monkey, behave for Steve and Mary all right?”  He pulls Grace up from the bed and wraps his arms around her, holding on to her tight.  When he sets her down, he presses a kiss to the top of her head.  “Thank you,” he murmurs to Steve and gives Mary a wave before he’s rushing out the door.

            Danny sees the cluster of cop cars and SWAT vehicles as he pulls into the parking lot.  Meka is standing on the edge of all the activity, kevlar strapped on his chest and sunglasses on his face, leaning against the nearest car.  He’s the one that spots Danny first and comes hustling over.

            Danny reaches into the glove compartment and pulls out his spare service weapon and his badge before getting out of the car.  He nods at Meka as he goes around to the back of his car and pops the trunk.  By the time his partner gets over to him, Danny’s pulling out his own vest and tugging it on.

            “What’s the word?” he asks, shortly, clipping his badge to his belt.  His movements are rushed as he holsters his gun.

            Meka’s hand squeezes the back of his neck and stills his frantic movements for a moment.  He doesn’t speak until Danny looks up at him.  “Take a breath, buddy.  We’ve got it under control.”

            Danny nods, rests his hands on the trunk of the car for a moment as he collects himself.  This is it.  This is the moment he’s been working towards for months, the moment he can finally catch the son of a bitch.  At first he had just wanted to prove himself to the Captain and the rest of HPD, then he’d wanted justice for a fellow cop.  Now, though, he wants to catch this bastard and get justice for Steve and Mary because they deserve it, they deserve to have this ghost put to rest so they can both get on with the rest of their lives.  He wants to do this for Steve and that thought feels like a swift kick to the stomach.  Danny forces himself to suck in a deep breath and pushes those thoughts away.  He can only focus on so much and right now his focus needs to be on catching Victor Hesse.

            “You good?” Meka ventures to ask a minute later, fingers tightening their hold on Danny’s neck.

            “Yeah,” Danny answers, voice strong and sure.  “I’m good to go.”

            He looks up in time to see Chin moving away from the huddle of SWAT members, making his way over to them.  His face is pinched in anxiety, posture so tense he looks like he could snap.  When he stops in front of Danny, though, a smile is curling up his lips.

            “We’ve got a guy monitoring the security feeds.  If Hesse tries to get off that ship, we’ll know.”  Chin holds out an earpiece to Danny.  “SWAT will back us up, but they know the objective is to apprehend Hesse alive.  We’re taking point.”

            “All right,” Danny nods, slipping the earpiece in place.  “Let’s find this bastard.”

            Danny slides his gun out of his holster and nods to Meka and Chin before he starts across the parking lot towards the docks.  The guard starts to come out of his shack, bringing his radio to his lips, but seeing the dozen SWAT guys walking behind them, he stops in his tracks.  Danny flashes his badge and keeps walking, seeing Chin slow down to snap out a few orders to the guard who quickly nods along.  Chin catches up with them in a few quick, jogged steps, glancing down at his phone every few moments to guide them through the maze of docks.  They don’t need the GPS map to tell them when they are close though, because the sudden gunshots from the freighter in front of them and the hail of bullets raining down around them do a pretty good job of that.

            “Shit!” Danny curses, feeling a bullet whiz by, clipping his arm.  He quickly ducks down behind a stack of shipping containers, Meka right behind him.  Across from him, he can see Chin ducked down with his shotgun in hand.  He glances over at them and Danny just nods.

            “You okay?” Meka questions, slowly peeking over the crate to watch the SWAT team advancing on the ship.

            Casting a glance down at his arm, Danny growls at seeing the tear in his new shirtsleeve and the blood tingeing the edges.  “Just perfect,” he grunts, turning his arm a bit to catch sight of the gash there.  It’s barely a graze, but it’s stinging like a bitch.  Turning his eyes away, he eases around sees the SWAT guys quickly taking down the shooters.  Just off to the side though, there is a figure hiding in the shadows, not moving.

            “Is that …” Danny trails off as he stands up again, gun trained on the figure as he makes his way up the gangplank to the ship.  He knows without looking that Meka and Chin are following behind him.

            The deck of the ship is pure chaos.   The ship workers dropping their guns, shouting in Chinese, and the cops shouting orders, trying to restrain the threats.  Danny isn’t paying attention to it though, he’s watching the figure in the shadows that is slowly inching away.  Meka’s hand falls on his shoulder and stops his progress.

            “We’ll sweep the ship once it’s secure, Danny.  Take it easy.  We’ve got the bastard pinned down.  He’s not getting off this ship unless it’s in cuffs.”

            Danny wants to nod and say ‘yeah, sure thing,’ but he knows better.  After everything he learned about Hesse, searching for him all theses months, he knows the man is smart.  He probably had a back up plan should the ship not work out.  They can’t give him enough time to put that plan into motion, they need to move.  Now.  Danny pulls away from Meka, stealing a glance over his shoulder towards the retreating shadow.

            “No, he’s too smart for that.  He’ll be off this ship and out of our grasp if we wait that long.  I’m not letting him get away,” Danny growls under his breath.  He raises his gun and starts picking his way across the deck, carefully avoiding the surrendering ship hands.  He has to hand it to Hesse, he had all sorts of contingency plans in place, getting the workers on the ship to cause a distraction while he slipped away.  He knew they were coming and he was prepared.  But Danny isn’t going to make it easy on him.

            “Danny, wait!  You can’t … Damn it Williams!” Danny hears from behind him, but doesn’t take his focus off the last place he’d seen the shadow he was sure was Hesse.  He pauses and considers the MR assault rifle laying at his feet.  Quickly, he holsters his Glock and picks up the rifle, chambering a bullet and moving on, slowly sweeping his way across the deck. 

            “Son of a bitch!  Kelly, go with him!”  Meka shouts.

            Danny is just easing around a corner when a foot lashes out.  He’s able to pull back enough that he doesn’t get a face full of the size twelve boot swinging at his head, but it does connect the gun in his hands, sending it clattering to the ground and skidding away.  It takes him a second to collect himself but then he’s swinging at the figure in front of him with a sharp right hook.  The hit lands a glancing blow, enough to have Hesse stumbling back a pace and glaring at him. 

            It’s the first time Danny is seeing his face, not in a grainy image from a camera or a dated picture from his warrant file, but real, flesh and blood in front of him.  He can’t suppress that thrill that runs through him of finally tracking the bastard down, but instantly feels a bit guilty as well.  It should be Steve standing here staring Hesse down, not him, but that’s just not possible.  A surge of anger has Danny swinging out again, this time connecting solidly with the terrorist’s face and sending him stumbling back into a shipping crate near the edge of ship’s deck.

            Without hesitation, Danny has his gun out of his holster and is aiming it at the man in front of him as Hesse is picking himself up off the deck.  On his way up though, Hesse pulls out his own gun, leveling it at Danny’s head.  “Don’t,” Danny murmurs, watching as a bloody smile spreads across the other man’s face.  Hesse tightens his finger on the trigger and Danny acts on instinct, firing a shot center mass.  The bullet lands dead center in the middle of Hesse’s chest.  Shock registers on his face for a split second before he’s crashing to the deck, momentum carrying his body over the side of the ship leaving only a smear of blood in its wake.

            Danny stands there for a moment, frozen in place, just waiting for the bastard to pop back up.  Hearing a splash as his body hits the water forces Danny to move, rushing across the slippery deck as fast as he dares, right up to the edge.  All he can see is a dark figure slipping down through the water.  It’s not enough, he thinks.  He wants to hand a body over to Steve as proof.  He’s tugging his tie off when Chin and Meka catch up with him.

            “Where the hell do you think you’re going?” Meka asks in disbelief, eyes flickering between Danny and the water.  “No.  No way.  Crazy haole,” he mutters, shaking his head.  “You’re not going in after his body.”

            “We’ll have the Coast Guard recover his body,” Chin adds, placing a hand on Danny’s shoulder.  “It’s over now, Danny.  Now we get to give Steve and Mary the good news.”

            Danny nods, eyes never leaving the spot where Hesse’s body disappeared.  It’s only when Chin and Meka give him a tug that he finally breaks his attention away from the water and follows them back across the deck.  “Did we have any problems with the others?” he asks quietly, eyeing all the ship hands sitting cuffed on the deck, guarded by the SWAT team.

            “Nope.  Not at all.”  Chin smiles.  “The ship’s captain was quite gracious in letting us aboard once he found out there was a stowaway on board, not to mention an internationally wanted terrorist.”

            Danny cuts a glance over to the disgruntled looking captain and has to smirk, knowing that had to have been quite the conversation.  He smiles at that and turns to regard Meka, then Chin.  “We did it,” he finally states.  “It’s done.”

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	8. Chapter 8

**Through the Darkness – Part Eight**  
 **Fandom:**   Hawaii Five-0  
 **Pairing:**   Steve/Danny (pre-slash)  
 **Rating:**   PG-13

  
  


            Despite his protests, Danny ends up sitting on the back bumper of an ambulance while a medic tends to his arm.  He glances down at the wound where the medic is starting to wrap gauze around it.

            “I’m fine.  Really.  I don’t need all that,” he tries once again but it’s ineffectual.  Obviously the combined efforts of Meka and Chin were enough to scare the medic into carefully cleaning and bandaging the smallest wound Danny’s ever suffered in the line of duty.  Sighing, Danny turns his attention back to where he’d last seen Chin talking to a team from the Coast Guard.  As soon as the medic has the gauze taped into place, Danny’s tearing his arm away.  Shrugging his ruined shirt back on, he makes his way over to the cluster of cops and Coast Guard, to the spot where Hesse had fallen into the water.

            “Any word?” Danny questions.

            Meka turns around surprised, glancing down at Danny’s arm before meeting his gaze again.  “The medic turned you loose already?” he questions and earns a glare for his concern.  “Hey, whoa!  Easy there, partner, just concerned for your well being, that’s all.” Meka holds his hands up in surrender, but is smirking at Danny.

            “It’s barely a graze, Meka.  I’m fine.”  Danny rolls his eyes and turns to Chin, completely ignoring his partner.  “Chin?”

            Chin just shakes his head.  “It could be a while before they come up with the body, Danny.”  There is something in Chin’s face that is unsettling, but it passes after a moment.  He turns his full attention to Danny and gives him a smile.  “We should probably go inform Steve and Mary.  They deserve to know before it hits the news.”

            “Yeah,” Danny sighs, running a hand through his hair.  He’d hoped to have a body to show Steve as proof; he knows he’d want to see the bastard if he was in Steve’s place.  Looks like his word is just going to have to do for now.  “Yeah, let’s get going.”  He goes to pull out his keys, but Meka stops him.

            “Really?  You’re going to go like that?”  Meka asks incredulously.

            Danny looks down at himself and fights back a groan.  His shirt is ruined, sleeve torn and bloody with dark smudges of grease and dirt streaking across his chest.  His pants are goners too, one pant leg torn up around the knee.  Not that Meka or Chin look any better, he muses.

            “Guess I should probably change, huh?” he asks, shaking his head.  Now he’s glad his mother always insisted he keep a change of clothes in the back of his car at all times.

            An hour later, Danny’s walking back into the hospital, freshly showered and in a new set of clothes.  It’s not the professional attire he left in, but he only had a t-shirt and a pair of shorts in the back of his car, so it’ll have to do for now.  Chin had elected to come, but Meka had offered to stay back at the precinct and get started on the mounds of paperwork waiting on them.  Reluctantly, Danny had let him.  He’d hoped that Meka would come and meet Steve, that he would celebrate with them, like a team, but Meka had politely declined.

            Danny pauses outside of Steve’s door for a moment and just soaks in the scene in front of him.  Steve’s sitting up in bed, Grace perched next to him, leaning into his side as she reads from a book.  Steve’s got one arm wrapped around Grace and the other holding onto one edge of the book while Grace holds the other.  Mary is sitting in the chair next to the bed, feet propped up on the mattress as she listens to Grace reading, a smile plastered on her face.  Danny’s heart trips a beat in his chest at the sight and he has to force himself to draw in a deep breath before he enters.

            “It’s a nice sight,” Chin whispers behind him, squeezing his shoulder.

            “Yeah,” Danny replies, voice choked off.  “It is.”

            Taking another deep breath, Danny knocks on the door and heads into the room.  His knock draws their attention and Grace is springing off the bed with a happy ‘Danno!’ as she bolts over to him.  He doesn’t hesitate in catching her, hugging her close and kissing her forehead.  Over her head, Danny can see Steve staring at him intently, eyes sweeping over him with calculated efficiency, brow wrinkling the slightest in concern.  Mary sits up in her chair, shifting anxiously as she watches Danny.

            “Are you okay, Danno?” Grace questions.

            Her voice pulls Danny’s attention back to her and the worried look on her face.  He follows her gaze to the bandage peeking out from underneath his shirtsleeve.  Danny smiles down at his daughter, giving her another quick kiss on her forehead. 

            “Yeah, Monkey.  I’m fine.  Just a little scratch.”  Danny eases her back to the ground, but cups her little face in his hands.  “Hey sweetie, I have to talk to Steve and Mary for a few minutes.”  Danny hesitates for a moment, unsure of what to tell Grace, but Chin saves him.

            “Why don’t you and I take your dad’s car and go pick us up some dinner?”  Chin kneels down in front of Grace, holding out his hand.

            Grace hesitates for a minute, looking up at Danny with questioning eyes before she quickly nods her head.  Chin gives her a big smile, standing up and taking Danny’s proffered keys.  As he leads Grace out the door, he’s already tossing out ideas.

            Danny sighs once they are out of the room and eases his body down on to the foot of the bed.  He positions himself so he can see both Steve and Mary before he runs a hand through his hair.  “Hesse is dead.” He spits out, watching the shock that registers on their faces.

            “We put out alerts for him all across the island a few weeks ago and we’ve been running facial recognition on everyone that’s been coming and going in the port areas.   We finally got a hit today when a security camera picked him up boarding a freighter scheduled to leave for China this afternoon.”  Danny hesitates, seeing the apprehension on Steve’s face.  “Hesse was prepared, had contingency plans in place.  He knew we’d be coming for him and had armed most of the deck hands on the ship with assault rifles.”  Danny shrugs his bandaged arm.  “Courtesy of them.”

            “We had SWAT as back-up when we boarded the ship.  They wanted to sweep the ship deck by deck, but,” Danny pauses, shaking his head.  “I just had this feeling he’d slip right through our fingers if we waited.  Plus I swear I saw him lurking in the shadows, watching his distraction.  Chin and I went after him.  Hesse pulled a gun but I already had mine drawn.”  Danny glances down at his hands for a moment, at the bruise forming from Hesse’s boot and cut on his knuckles from Hesse’s teeth.  He smiles when he glances back up at Steve.  “One shot to the chest.”

            “He’s dead?” Steve questions quietly.  His face is completely blank, not betraying any emotion, but Danny knows he’s trying not to get his hopes up.

            “Yeah,” he answers, reaching out and giving Steve’s arm a quick squeeze.  “He fell overboard, but I had Coast Guard divers in the water twenty minutes after it happened.  They’re sweeping for his body as we speak.”

            “Wow,” Mary mutters, shocked.  “So, it’s finally over.  He’s gone.”

            Danny turns his attention to her and nods his head.  “Yeah, Mary.  It’s finally over.”

            Mary quickly comes across the bed, pulling Danny into a fierce hug.  She shudders out a breath against his shoulder before she pulls away, wiping quickly at the tears on her cheeks.  “I’m glad it was you,” she whispers.  “If it wasn’t Steve, I’m glad it was you that finally took the bastard down.  Now we can move on.”  She stands up, taking a deep breath and swiping at her cheeks once again.  “I’m going to go tell Mak.  I’ll be back.”

            It isn’t until she’s out of the room that Steve’s mask breaks.  One minute he’s sitting there all stoic, staring at the wall ahead of him, and the next he’s burying his face in his hands.  Danny’s quick to move, sitting next to Steve and pulling him close.  Steve isn’t sobbing or shaking when he looks up, just shedding a few silent tears.  He quickly drags a hand across his face to erase them, but it was futile, Danny had already seen them.  The emotion he sees in Steve’s eyes threatens to drown him, so hopeful, but miserable as well.

            “I know Hesse, Danny.”  Steve croaks out after a minute.  “I want to believe it’s over, I really do.  But until I see his body …”

            “You won’t believe it,” Danny finishes.  “I understand.”

            “It’s like you said, he knew you were coming and he had contingency plans already in place.  He’s smart.  I tracked him all over the world for five years and each time he slipped right out from under me.  I don’t think it’s not over, not just yet.”  Steve takes a deep breath before he meets Danny’s eyes.  “But Mary’s right, I’m glad it was you.  Thank you, Danny.  For everything.”

            Danny can’t quite form a response with the sudden swell of emotions clogging this throat.  So instead, he nods his head, giving Steve’s hand a squeeze.

            “You’ll take care of him, right?” Mary asks, clutching her boarding passes in her shaky hands.

            “Yeah, of course.”  Danny answers without hesitation.  “C’mere.”  He pulls Mary into a hug. 

            “I’m sorry,” Mary answers, wiping a hand across her cheeks when she pulls away.  “It’s just, I hate leaving him.  I wish I didn’t have to.”  She takes a shaky breath and tries desperately to reign in her emotions.  “So much has happened in the last two weeks and I just wish I could stay with him longer, to make sure he’s going to be okay.”

            “He will be.”  Danny runs a hand up her arm and smiles at her.  “Grace and I will make sure of that, okay?  Steve will be fine.”

            “Okay, okay,” she whispers, picking up her bag and slinging it over her shoulder.  Grabbing the handle of her suitcase, she looks at Danny one last time.  “Thank you, Danny.”  She pulls him into a quick one-armed hug before she’s rushing off through the doors of the airport, leaving him standing on the curb.

            He watches her go for a moment, watches her blonde hair and red luggage disappear into the crowds before he gets back in the car.  Danny knew it was going to be hard for Mary to leave Steve once again, especially given all that had happened in the last week.  Hesse was dead, their father’s case closed, and Steve was quickly healing after his last surgery and making progress in therapy.  It won’t be long until he’s released, Danny thinks.  Everything is looking up, fast.

            It isn’t until Danny’s standing outside of Steve’s room, clutching a bag of takeout burgers, that he realizes just how true his words are.  He overhears someone talking to Steve and knows he shouldn’t be eavesdropping, but the words catch his attention and he just can’t turn away.

            “I’ve spoken to your therapists and your doctors, Commander.  They are confident that you will be ready to be released in a week or so.”

            Social worker then, Danny thinks, peering in the room enough to see a woman sitting in the chair next to Steve’s bed, blonde head bowed over a file in her hands.

            “There are some things that we need to get organized before you can be released.  First and foremost is a place for you to live.  We were made aware that you don’t currently have a place to stay.”  She pauses, glancing up at Steve’s silence.  Danny feels a pit grow in his stomach.  All this time he’d never given it one thought, that Steve doesn’t have a house anymore; Danny and Gracie are now occupying the only place the man’s ever called home.

            “We also need to arrange for home therapists and visiting nurses and aides to assist you for the first few months until you are able to get around on your own once again.”

            With each word she’s speaking, Steve’s shoulders are growing tenser.  She may not see the stress she’s causing the man in front of her, but Danny can.  He’s ready to intervene when her next words stop him cold in his tracks.

            “We also have to discuss your visits with the hospital psychologist, Commander.  It’s noted in your chart that you’ve declined her services multiple times during your stay, but you won’t be released until she clears you as well.  We need to make sure that you are … stable enough to release.  You’ve been through quite the ordeal, Commander.”

            Before he can stop himself, Danny is knocking loudly on the door, startling them both, and charging headlong into the room.  He fixes a bright smile on his face and feigns nonchalance as he comes up to Steve.  “Hey babe!” he says brightly.  “I brought us some dinner, thought we could catch a game since Grace is having a sleepover tonight.”

            The social worker clears her throat and Danny acts surprised when he turns to her.  “Oh!  Sorry, didn’t know you had company.” Danny gives Steve a quick smirk, before he turns to the social worker and shakes her hand.  “Hi, Danny Williams.  I’m a friend of Steve’s.”

            “Uh, hello.  I’m Victoria, from social services here at the hospital.”  She’s rattled and Danny can’t help the satisfaction that swirls in his chest at the shocked look on her face.  “I, uh, won’t interrupt you then.  I can come back another day and discuss this with the Commander.”  She quickly gathers up papers and scoots out of the room, tossing a quick “Have a good night” over her shoulder.

            Once she’s out of the room, Steve let’s out a sigh and relaxes, shoulders slumping.  Danny gives him a moment, dragging the comfortable chair around to the side of the bed and opening the bag, dishing out their dinner.  Steve remains quiet, picking at his burger unenthusiastically as Danny flips through the channels until he finds the LA Dodgers game.

            “What was that all about?” Danny ventures to ask after a moment.  He glances over at Steve and watches as Steve struggles for a minute with his reply before he just shakes his head.

            “Nothing.  Nothing important.”       

            “Danno?”

            Danny takes the last tray out of the oven and sets it on the cooling rack before turning to her.  Grace is sitting at the kitchen table, picking through the batch of cookies in search of the best ones to take to Steve.  “What’s up monkey?”

            “Can we take Steve to the beach?”  She turns to look at him, face serious.  When Danny doesn’t answer for a moment, she presses on.  “Steve’s been feeling better, Mak said so.  And Steve misses being outside.  I think we should take him to the beach to cheer him up!”

            “I don’t know, Grace.”  Danny starts, but his words stall out before he can really come up with a reason not to.  He thinks about the last few weeks, about Steve’s surgery and his amazing recovery, about taking down an international criminal and solving the McGarrett murder, and about the look on Steve’s face when the social worker had brought up Steve being discharged.  Steve’s had a rough few weeks and Danny knows for a fact that the man could use a break, even a small one.

            “Please Danno?  The beach would be so much fun!  I know Steve misses the ocean.  He’s a seal, he practically lives in the ocean!”

            Danny smirks at that, Grace getting her seals mixed up again, though her thought probably isn’t all that far off base.    She’s up and moving towards him, little arms whirling around her as she tries to convince him. 

            “We can call Mak and ask if it’s okay.  I know he’ll say it is because Steve is feeling better and he needs to be outside!  Please Danno?  Please?”  Grace latches her little hands onto the legs of his shorts and looks up at him earnestly.

            He sighs in defeat because he really has no other option at this point.  He can’t say no to any of Grace’s logic because he knows she is right on this one.  Instead, he reaches for his phone and waggles it at Grace.  “Fine.  I’ll call Mak.  But if he says no, that’s the end of it, all right?  We’ll go see Steve like we normally do.”  Danny already knows what Mak will say, calling him is just a formality.  “You finish packing up Super SEAL’s cookies while I call.”

            Grace throws her arms around his legs and hugs him hard, bouncing in excitement.  “Thank you Danno!” she squeals, before she rushes back to the table and finishes picking out cookies for Steve.

            Three phone calls later, Danny is stepping back into the kitchen to find Grace sitting at the table eating a cookie.  She has changed from her shorts and tank top into a sundress, the straps of her bright pink bathing suit peeking out from under it.  Danny shakes his head in amusement when he eyes a bag at her feet, buckets and shovels and other beach toys poking out of it.  Grace beams up at him, kicking her feet to and fro, just waiting for him.  He doesn’t think he was gone all that long on the phone, but then again, he realizes, Grace probably already had the bag packed and her bathing suit ready this morning.  She had already known how this was going to play out.

            He chuckles and drops a hand to her head, snagging a cookie from the pile left on the table.  “Let me go get changed and then we’ll go get Super Steve.” 

            Grace squeals in excitement, dancing a bit in her chair and bobbing her head back and forth.  Her enthusiasm is contagious and Danny finds himself grinning as he heads upstairs.

            Twenty-five minutes later, Danny and Grace are walking down the hallway of Tripler, Grace practically skipping in her excitement.  Danny’s clutching a bag from the gift shop in his hand and internally shaking his head, wondering if once again this is a bad idea.  When they get to Steve’s room, Grace just waltzes right in like she owns the place, calling out a “Hi Super Steve” as she enters.  Danny follows at a more sedate pace, rounding the corner to see Steve sitting in an actual chair by the bed finishing up his lunch.

            “Hi Grace,” he greets, then smiles over at Danny.  “Hey Danny.”

            Grace doesn’t wait for formalities.  She climbs right up on Steve’s bed so she’s sitting next to him and plops down the bag of cookies on his tray.  “We’re going to the beach,” she announces with a flourish.

            Danny drops the bag on the end of the bed and sits down in the other chair across from Steve.  He watches as a somber look quickly passes over Steve’s face before his smile is back, though not quite as bright as before.

            “That’s great!  Sure looks like a nice afternoon,” Steve replies, ducking his head to get a better look at the weather through the window.   “You’ll have some nice waves if you’re going to go swimming.”

            “Not _me_ , silly.” Grace shakes her head in exasperation.  “ _We_.” She moves her hand around indicating all three of them.

            The look that passes over Steve’s face in that moment eases up any of Danny’s remaining reservations about this plan.  Steve looks completely shocked, but he also looks really hopeful when he turns to Danny for confirmation.

            “The Monkey’s right, Steve.  We are going to take a quick trip to the beach this afternoon.  You up for it?”  Danny poses it as a question to give Steve an out, but he doesn’t have to worry about it because Steve is already grinning from ear to ear.

            “Sounds great.”  Steve starts easing himself out of the chair, moving his lunch tray out of the way.  He pauses for a moment then, glancing down at his bare feet, the pale blue hospital scrubs on his legs, and his white t-shirt.  “I don’t have any clothes-” he starts awkwardly.

            Grace rushes to the rescue once again though, grabbing up the bag from the foot of the bed.  “Danno said that, so we bought you a present!”  She opens the bag and pulls out a pair of black flip-flops, a white t-shirt with the word “Aloha” emblazoned on it, and a pair of bright blue board shorts with white flowers trailing across them.  Grace hands each item over to Steve as she takes it out of the bag, grinning even wider when she hands over the shorts.  “I picked them out.  Do you like them?”

            Steve nods quickly, accepting the shorts with a wide smile.  “They’re great, I love them.  Thank you Gracie.”  He holds them up and admires them briefly before he pushes himself up to shaky standing position.  He grabs a hold of the tray table for balance, but releases it quickly once he’s steady.

            “Gracie, why don’t you go get Mak and tell him we’re almost ready to go.   Steve has to get changed and then we’ll head out.”  Danny shoos Grace out the door, then closes it, turning back to Steve.  “You okay there, or do you need a hand?”

            Steve quickly looks away, embarrassed, and Danny has his answer.  He shakes his head briefly before grabbing the shorts from Steve’s grasp.  He quickly tears off the tags before he looks up at Steve.  “Well let’s get this over with before my daughter walks back in the room.  She has a tendency not to knock when entering.”  Danny casts a smile up a Steve, trying to ease his apprehension.

            Fifteen minutes later they have Steve in the car, wheelchair stowed in the back of the trunk, and are pulling out of the parking lot.  It’s only a short, ten-minute drive to the beach from the hospital, but Danny’s eyes keep drifting over to Steve the entire car ride.  Grace is in the back, chattering away excitedly about building sandcastles and going swimming, to which Steve and Danny both just nod.  Steve’s attention isn’t on Grace though, Danny knows.  His attention is draw out the window to the world slipping by them as they drive.  Steve hasn’t been on the island in years, Danny remembers, and hasn’t been outside of the hospital grounds in months.  The look on Steve’s face, a mix of excitement and relief, and the small smile playing on his lips tells Danny that this trip was definitely worth it.

            When they pull into the parking lot of the beach, it’s strangely quiet, especially given the beautiful afternoon, but Danny is extremely grateful.  He climbs out of the car and moves the seat as Grace clambers out excitedly.  Danny nods to her, slipping her something from his pocket and motioning to the stand a few feet away that rents umbrellas and beach chairs.  Grace nods and flies off in a hurry.  He watches her for a moment before he moves around the car to Steve’s side. 

            “I really appreciate this Danny, but I can’t exactly take the wheelchair on the beach,” Steve’s voice is quiet, unsure.  Danny just looks down at him with a smile and shakes his head.  “I don’t want to ruin your afternoon or be a pain for you guys.  I’ll just sit on the bench,” Steve motions to one of the many benches lining the sidewalk.

            “No you won’t,” Danny answers, catching sight of Grace coming back towards them.  “Grace and I have it covered,” he answers.

            Grace comes around the car then, pushing a wheelchair with fat, ballooned tires.  She’s grinning from ear to ear when she pops her head up from behind it.  “Look Super Steve!  They have special wheelchairs for the beach!  We rented one for you!”

            Steve’s eyes get a bit watery, but he’s smiling big and bright up at Gracie.  “That is awesome,” he croaks out, looking up at Danny in appreciation.

            “Well come on, Super Steve, up and at ‘em.”  Danny leans down and helps Steve out of the car and into the wheelchair.  Once he’s settled, Grace grabs a hold of the handles and starts pushing him towards the beach.

            They settle on a spot a few feet from the water.  Danny hands over Grace’s bag of beach toys and watches in amusement as she plops down in the sand right in front of Steve’s feet and starts digging away.  For his part, Steve eases his body towards the edge of the chair, kicking off his flip-flops and dropping his feet into the sand.  He digs his toes in and just closes his eyes for a moment, a look of pure happiness crossing over his face.

            Danny kicks off his flip-flops as well and sits down in the sand next to Steve’s wheelchair.  They both help Grace dig, Steve moving the sand around with his feet and Danny using the green shovel he was armed with.  Grace drags buckets and buckets of water up to them, dousing them both with water a few times as she tries to dump it into her hole.  She laughs in delight when it happens, like it was a complete accident, though Danny is pretty sure it was intentional.  Steve just drops his feet into the hole, splashing her right back.

            After a while, Grace strips off her sundress and streaks off towards the water, a blur of pink and ponytails.  She splashes around in the waves for a few minutes before she calls out for them.  “Come on Danno, come on Steve!  Come into the water!”

            Danny looks up at Steve questioningly for a moment before Steve nods his head.  Steve pushes himself from the wheelchair and stands there in the sand for a moment, legs shaky, but he holds his ground.  Before he can even attempt a step, though, Danny comes up along his side, easing his shoulder under Steve’s arm to take some of his weight.  Slowly, the two of them ease their way around Grace’s half formed sand castle and moat, and head down to the water.  When Grace sees them coming, she abandons the water in favor of helping Steve.  Like she did the day Steve took his first steps, Grace moves up to Steve’s other side and takes his hand, settling it on her shoulder for balance. 

            It takes them a few minutes to walk the ten feet down to the edge of the water, but its worth it to see the expression on Steve’s face when the first wave comes up to greet him.  A look of pure bliss washes over Steve and a sense of calm Danny has never witnessed before.  As the water laps over his toes and quickly recedes, Steve turns his face up to sky and closes his eyes.  They wade in until they are ankle deep, the waves lapping at their calves as they roll in, and just stand there for a few minutes as Steve soaks it all in.

            “Thank you,” Steve whispers a few minutes later.  The sun is slowly starting to sink into the ocean, painting the sky a vivid rainbow of colors.  He just looks over at Danny and can’t quite come up with all the words he needs, but he hopes that Danny understands that this moment means the world to him.  He’s not just thank Danny for the beach, though.  He’s thanking him for everything.  For capturing Victor Hesse when he couldn’t.  For allowing Grace into his life.  For giving Steve a new family in Danny and Grace, Chin, and Kono.  For saving him and helping him get his life back.  “Thank you.”

            Danny looks up at Steve and can’t help the quiet smile that spreads over his face.  He has one arm still wrapped around Steve’s back to keep him steady so he just tugs Steve a little closer in a bit of an awkward hug.  He glances over and sees that Gracie has her one arm wrapped around Steve’s leg, like she is hugging him too.  She turns then and grins up at them before slapping her foot down in the water, slashing all three of them.  Steve laughs and swings his foot out too, catching the next wave and sending a wall of water spewing towards Grace.  Danny knows better than to get in the middle of a water war and just lets the two of them have at it for a minutes until Steve starts to flag against his side.  When he realizes that Steve is tiring out quickly, he calls a halt to the water war with the only thing that gets Grace’s attention anymore.

            “All right you two.  What do you say we go grab some pizza before we go back?”

            Grace perks up at that, peering around Steve’s form to look at Danny.  “Can we get pineapple on our pizza?!” she asks eagerly.

            When Danny glances over and sees the matching expressions of excitement on both Grace and Steve’s faces, he realizes just how totally outnumbered he really is.

            Danny waits until Grace is out of earshot, out in the hallway chatting with Mak and Kono about their trip to the beach, before he decides to bring it up.  He helps Steve ease his legs up on to the mattress, then sits down next to him, reaching over to pick up the stack of papers the social worker had left for him.  Danny had spotted them earlier and was annoyed when he realized she had come back and bothered Steve again with all this information.  As soon as Steve realizes what Danny is doing, he makes a grab for the papers, but he’s too late; Danny’s already flipping through them.

            “When were you going to tell anyone that you are ready to be released,” Danny asks, looking up from the listing of apartments the social worker found for him.

            “As soon as I was sure I was getting out of here,” Steve answers, glaring at Danny and making another grab for the papers.

            “When were you going to mention that you needed a place to stay?”

            “I don’t,” Steve protests.  “Victoria found a few apartments that will work for now.  I’ll have a place to stay as soon as I decide on one.”

            Danny rolls his eyes but continues to scan the apartment listings briefly.  “Right, like you’re going to move into an apartment you’ve never even seen, one that was recommended to you by the social worker?  That’s not gonna happen.”

            “Well then what do you suggest, Danny?  It’s not like I have a whole lot of choices right now.”  Steve crosses his arms over his chest and stares Danny down, challenging him to come up with a better solution.

            “You come and stay with Grace and I.” Danny answers simply.  It’s been something that has been on his mind since the day he overheard Steve’s conversation with the social worker.  And now that the words are out of his mouth, Danny is surprised by how much he wants this.

            Steve immediately shakes his head.  “No.  No way.  I’m not going to intrude on your lives more than I already have.”

            “Intrude?  Are you kidding me right now, Steven?”  Danny throws his arms out to the side, but tries to reign in his aggravation.  “What’s the with sudden pity party, huh?  Last time I looked, Grace and I were under no _obligation_ to come and visit you.  We care about you, Steve.  You mean a lot. To the both of us.”

            “I know,” Steve answers quietly, sighing.  “But that doesn’t mean you want me around all the time.  You already have enough to worry about, taking care of Grace and working.  You don’t need to add me to that list.”

            Danny reaches out and smacks Steve lightly on his arm.  “Really?  Because helping you out is such a burden?  Give me a break Steve.”  He looks down at the papers that detail the visiting nurse schedule and the in-home therapy sessions and all the tasks Steve would need an in-home aide to help him with for the first few weeks.

            “Are you really telling me you’d rather a whole bunch of strangers paraded in and out all day long than have me help you out?  Really Steve?  Because I’ve seen how you get with a temp nurse or aide around here.  You really want to deal with a few of them all day long?”  Danny shakes his head.  “This isn’t a pity offer, Steve.  This is me offering you, my friend, a place to stay, offering you some help until you get back on your feet all the way.  Come stay with Grace and I.”

            “Steve’s coming to stay with us?!” Grace asks excitedly.

            Danny and Steve both turn around to see Grace, Mak , and Kono standing in the doorway to Steve’s room.  He’d never heard them come in.  Danny flicks his gaze back to Steve, waiting on his answer.

            “It’s not a bad idea, Steve,” Mak chimes in when Steve just glares at Danny in silence.  “Think about it.”

            “It’s not like it’s going to eliminate all those people coming in,” Steve starts to protest, but Kono shakes her head and interrupts him.

            “No, but you’ll only need a therapist for a few weeks, until you can manage outpatient therapy, and the visiting nurse for only a week or so to monitor your vitals and the surgical site.”

            “It’ll be fun, Steve!” Grace hops up on the other side of Steve’s bed.  She grabs Steve’s hand and pleads with him.  “Please Steve?  Pretty please?!”

            “There is a spare bedroom on the first floor and a full bathroom,” Danny urges softly when Steve still refuses to answer them.  “But you already know that.  It won’t take much to get them ready.  No stairs for you to climb.  And that would mean you’d be independent during the day, no need to have an aide come in and help you out.  It’s a win-win Steve.  Just think about, yeah?”

            Steve sighs, dropping the glare.  He still looks like he wants to protest, but after a moment he nods his head.  “Okay, yeah.  I’ll think about.”

            Grace squeals in delight as she throws her arms around Steve and hugs him.  Danny smiles at Steve, knowing he might have won the battle for the moment, but he definitely didn’t win the war by any means.  Today though, he’ll take the victory.

  
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	9. Chapter 9

**Through the Darkness – Part Nine**  
 **Fandom:**   Hawaii Five-0  
 **Pairing:**   Steve/Danny (pre-slash)  
 **Rating:**   PG-13

  
  


  


            It still gives Danny a little thrill to walk into the precinct and head over to his desk next to Meka and Chin.  It’s not that his desk has moved to a better place, actually it’s still too crowded in the middle of the floor if you ask him, but it’s the fact that he’s got his old job back.  Working homicide is where Danny’s always thrived.  Sure, technically he’s only had his old job back for a week now and he hasn’t picked up a real case yet, but it still feels better to him.

            He nods to Meka and to Chin across from him as he drops into his chair.  He’s just reaching to turn on his computer when the Captain comes hustling out of his office heading straight for them.  Danny glances at his partner, then at Chin, trying desperately to remember if they did anything to incite the man’s anger already.  He comes up blank and judging by the blank looks on their face, Chin and Meka haven’t come up with anything either.

            “Williams.  Hanamoa.  Kelly.”  The Captain barks out, coming to a stop next to their triad of desks.  He glares at each of them for a minute before he settles his hands on his hips and sighs.  “I just got off the phone with the Governor’s office.  We had a chat about the three of you.”  He arches his eyebrow at them pointedly, but his face doesn’t betray anything.

            “We in trouble, Cap?” Meka asks casually, leaning back in his chair and toying with a pen. 

            Danny has to suppress the urge to roll his eyes at his partner and his nonchalant attitude.  Personally, Danny’s gut is twisting with nerves.  When he glances over at Chin, the man looks a bit worried as well.

            “For once, no, you three aren’t in trouble.”  The Captain shakes his head like even he can’t even believe what he’s about to say.  “The Governor actually requested to meet with all of you.  Today.  In about an hour.”

            Danny opens his mouth in shock, then snaps it closed quickly.  He glances down at his watch, then back at Meka and Chin.  They both look as shocked as Danny’s feeling, but they all quickly scramble up, turning off their computers and grabbing car keys as they go.  Distantly, he can hear the Captain chuckling at them as he heads back to his office.

            Despite Meka’s protests of being stuck in the back, they take Danny’s car.  They don’t have much to say between the three of them.  Meka’s staring out the window, fingers plucking silently at the leg of his pants; Chin’s only sign of nerves is the way his leg bounces up and down every few beats before it settles down again.  Danny drums his fingers along the steering wheel as they creep their way through traffic.  They don’t have to wait long, either, once they arrive at the Governor’s office.  Her assistant smiles politely at them as she escorts them into the Governor’s private office.

            “Gentlemen,” the Governor stands up to greet them, shaking each of their hands then motioning for them to take a seat.  “Governor Jameson.  Thank you for coming on such short notice.  Can I get you anything to drink?  A cup of coffee?”  When they just shake their heads, she smiles.  “Well, let’s get right down to business then.

            “I wanted to personally thank each of your for the role you played in solving the McGarrett case.  John McGarrett was a personal friend of mine and it was a great relief to me to hear that justice had been served,” Governor Jameson pauses, taking a deep breath and smoothing her hand over the papers on her desk.  “It was a wake up call for me, and for our law enforcement officials on the island.  Victor Hesse posed a serious threat to our security.  He got on the island through underground channels and would’ve slipped away the same way had it not been for you three. 

            “I’ve come to realize there are some threats to the island that are not being addressed, or addressed fully, by the current police force.  It’s not out of lack of knowledge or effort, but lack of manpower.  I propose to change that.”  Governor Jameson hands over a piece of paper to each of them.

            Danny scans it quickly, skipping over all the legal and formal jargon of the official letter and focuses in on a few keywords.  “A special task force, ma’am?” he questions, glancing up from the paper to look at her.

            “Yes, I want to create a task force that has more authority than HPD.  A task force to hunt down criminals and terrorists like Victor Hesse and get them the hell off my island.”  Her voice is stern when she says it, eyes fiery as she leans towards them.

            “I still don’t understand, ma’am.  Why did you call us here?” Chin asks, glancing over to Danny in confusion. 

            “Because I want you three to run it.” She answers with out hesitation.

            Danny’s thrown off by her statement and can’t quite curb his tongue quick enough.  “If you knew anything about the three of us, Governor, you’d know we don’t exactly have the most stellar reputation in the HPD.  We are not the ones you want running this task force.”

            Hearing that, Jameson leans back in her chair once again and regards each of them individually.  “I know all about the three of you.  I know your history, personal and professional, and you are exactly who I want running this.  You are precisely what I need.”

            Governor Jameson turns her attention to Chin Ho first.  “I know about the investigation against you that proved nothing.  I know how you were demoted down to a beat cop until you got your hand on the McGarrett case, and how you’ve just been given your old rank of Lieutenant back.  I know that you only worked the McGarrett case because it was personal for you too.  You did it out of a sense of obligation to your old partner.”  When Chin looks away, she presses further.  “You are a smart man, Lieutenant Kelly, but you are also out to prove yourself to the rest of the police department that you aren’t a dirty cop on the take.”

            When Governor Jameson turns to Danny, she smiles.  “And you, Detective Williams, even after it was considered a cold case, you kept digging on the McGarrett murder.  You didn’t have a personal connection to it other than you wanted to see it through.  You have the drive and determination to follow a case through to the very end, no matter what.  I respect that about you and why I think you would be a wise choice for my task force.” 

            Danny just nods, still not convinced. 

            “I know you took a serious blow, in more ways than one, when you were demoted from homicide to robbery.  Your reputation was tarnished, along with Detective Hanamoa’s.  But you never let it stop you.  I also know that you are a single father and would do anything to keep your daughter’s home safe for her.”

            “Detective Hanamoa, I know your journey in this case was shorter than these two, but your contribution was no less significant.  I know you joined, and stayed on the case, out of loyalty to your partner.  Your loyalty is a huge asset and what I am looking for.  I also know you take your heritage and the history of this island seriously, almost as seriously as the protection of your family, which is why I know you would be a wise addition to the task force.”

            Having laid it all out for them, Governor Jameson eyes each of them.  Danny shifts in his chair, eyeing his two friends before he glances down at the paper in his hands.  It’s just a proposal at the moment, he knows.  The Governor still has a few hoops to jump through to get this approved, but he can’t deny that he’s intrigued.  During the case, when uncovering criminals like Victor Hesse, Sang Min, and Doran, Danny had often wondered how they existed on the island relatively untouched by the police.  He had wanted nothing more than put each of them behind bars for good.  It took a little while, but they each got what they deserved.  He can’t deny the burning desire he has to say yes.  When he glances over at Chin, he sees a similar feeling passing over the man.

            “What do you say, gentlemen?  Do I have the members of my task force sitting here in front of me?”  Jameson asks, pressing them for an answer.

            “I, uh,” Danny clears his throat and nods.  “Yes, ma’am.  I’d be interested in the position.”

            “I would as well, ma’am,” Chin responds, a smile spreading across his face at the prospect.

            Meka, however, stays quiet, staring down at the paper in his hands with a lost expression on his face.  Danny nudges him gently with his elbow, getting his attention.  “I’m sorry, Governor,” he finally responds, leaning forward to place the letter back on the Governor’s desk.  “I don’t think I am interested right now.”

            Jameson takes a moment to look surprised before she nods.  “Very well.  Thank you gentlemen for your time.  Detective Hanamoa, the offer will remain open if you change your mind.  Lieutenant Kelly, Detective Williams, I look forward to working with you both.  I will be in touch.”

  


            Steve is shocked when the phone in his room starts to ring.  He glances at the clock, trying to calculate the time in LA, wondering if Mary is okay.  He hasn’t spoken to her in a few days, since she flew back home, and the dread that settles in his stomach is instantaneous.  Danny doesn’t call this early, already busy at work, and no one else has this number.  It has to be about Mary.

            Grabbing the receiver, Steve holds it to his ear and has to force himself to take a steady breath.  “Hello?”

            “Commander McGarrett?  This is Governor Jameson.” The voice on the other line states.

            Steve feels a rush of relief so great he has to sit down on the edge of the bed to steady himself.  It takes a moment for his brain to connect all the dots.  “What can I do for you, ma’am?”

            “It’s more of what I can do for you, Commander.  I’d like to offer you a job.”

            Steve sputters for a minute, wandering if this is all some kind of cruel joke.  “I’m sorry.  A job?” he questions.  Surely the Governor would have access to his Naval records and know that he’s been given a medical discharge.  The Navy decided months ago that he was too damaged, too broken, to be of any more use to them.  He’s not sure what he can offer the Governor of Hawaii.

            “Yes, Commander.  A job.”  She pauses, the sounds of shuffling paper filling the line for a moment before her voice comes back.  “Your father was a good friend of mine, Commander, and the manner of his death shook me.  I won’t go into the long-winded version, but I am creating a special task force to go after men like Victor Hesse.  Now that I know of their existence on my island, I cannot turn a blind eye to it.  And you Commander, are the person I want to run it.”

            “I’m sorry, ma’am, but I’m just not sure …” Steve trails off, not sure what to say or where to go from here. 

            “I don’t need an answer right now, Commander.  I know you still have a long road of recovery ahead of you, but I want you to know that this is something I am working on, something I want you to be a part of.  The Navy may have discharged you, Commander, but I know you and I know you have a lot of service left to offer your country.”  She sighs quietly for a moment.  “I already have two members of the task force, two people who you know pretty well.  Detective Williams and Lieutenant Kelly from HPD.  They have already agreed to join the task force.  There is still ways to go before everything is finalized, but I want to let you know that should you decide this is something you wish to pursue, there will always be a spot open for you.  When you are feeling up to it, give me a call and we can talk it over some more.”

            “Thank you, ma’am.  I’ll keep it in mind.”  Steve answers quickly.  He pulls the phone away from his ear for a minute, staring at it in shock.  Despite his reservations, because so much of his future is uncertain at this point, Steve can’t deny the spark of hope it places in him.  He’s been in the Navy for half of his life.  He wasn’t sure how he’d acclimate back into civilian life after serving his country for so long.  But this, having a job and chasing criminals across the island, would be a perfect segue between his duty in the Navy and a normal life.  A smile spreads across his face as he hangs up the phone.  It’s definitely something to think about.

  


            “Come on, Grace!  Are you almost ready?  We gotta get going!”  Danny calls out, placing the last of the dirty dishes in the dishwasher.  From the other room he hears Grace’s feet thumping across the floor as she rushes around.  Rolling his eyes, Danny starts the dishwasher then checks on the oven timer once more.

            “You set it three times already, Danno!” Grace’s remarks, exasperated.

            “Yeah, well, I’d hate for our dinner to burn.”  Danny turns away from the stove, snagging two freshly backed cookies from off the cooling rack, handing one over to Grace.  “Or worse yet, cutting into a still raw lasagna!”

            Grace laughs as she takes a bit out of her cookie, skipping back out of the kitchen into the living room.  Once she’s at the door though, she turns back and glances around.  “What do you think, Danno?  Do you think Steve will like it?”

            Danny follows her gaze around the room, taking in the large banner Grace had drawn her self.  Six pages of paper glued end to end, emblazoned with the simple message of “Welcome Home Steve!”.  Grace also blew up three-dozen balloons in various colors and tied them all over the living room, to lamps and the banister and the TV, their cheeriness filling up the entire room.  And sitting right in the middle of the couch was a stuffed seal with a superman logo sewn to its chest, a superhero eye-mask covering its face, and a red cape tied to its neck.

            Danny can’t help but smile down at Grace, proud of all his little girl had done for Steve, to cheer him up and welcome him home.  “It looks great, Gracie.  I think Steve is gonna love it.”  Danny picks up the duffle bag waiting by the door and shoos Grace out.  “Now come on, let’s go pick up Super Steve.”

            It’s a waiting game like always.  Wait in traffic.  Wait in line to sign the visitors’ log.  Wait for the doctor to sign the discharge papers.  But this time, they don’t mind the wait.  Grace bursts into Steve’s room all sunny smiles and chipper attitude, just like always, completely content to wait it out on the end Steve’s bed.  After a few minutes, though, Danny is once again shooing her out of a door, this time with the instructions to go say her good-byes to the nurses on the floor, her fidgeting driving Danny crazy.

            Once she’s gone, Danny lets out a laugh.  “Sorry, she’s just excited to get you home,” he states, opening up the duffle bag and pulling out a change of clothes for Steve.

            “It’s fine, Danny,” Steve states, taking the clothes with a grateful smile.  After months of being trapped in the hospital, of being trapped inside his own body, Steve relishes the sudden freedom before him.  This is not exactly how he had pictured it would go even a few weeks ago, but he can readily admit, at least to himself, that this was turning out better than he’d ever hoped.  He’d struggled with the idea at first, but now the thought of going home with Grace and Danny feels so right he’s not sure why he resisted in the first place.  There is nowhere else in the world he’d rather be than with the two of them.

            When he makes his way out of the bathroom a few minutes later, dressed like a normal human being for once, it’s to find Danny sitting in a chair, feet propped up on the bed, flipping through the two day old newspaper.  He glances up when Steve comes out and smiles brightly at him.

            “Well look at you babe, dressed in normal clothes!  It’s a good look on you,” Danny admits, still smirking.

            Steve glances down at the simple black t-shirt and khaki shorts Danny had brought for him and shrugs.  “Yeah, well, feels good to be out of hospital scrubs.” Steve runs a hand through his hair self-consciously, glad that Mak had insisted he visit the hospital barber one last time for a hair cut and shave before going home.  Catching sight of the hospital bracelet on his arm, Steve gives it an ineffectual tug, wanting it off as soon as possible.

            “You’re never going to get it off that way,” Danny mutters, waving Steve over to sit on the edge of the bed in front of him.

            Once Steve is seated, Danny pulls a small pair of scissors out of the bag and gently cradles Steve’s hand.  It only takes a quick second to snip the plastic and have the bracelet fall away, but neither of them move away.  Danny is still holding Steve’s hand between his own, fingers ghosting from Steve’s wrist to his knuckles and back.  Steve sucks in a deep breath, looking up from their hands to meet Danny’s eyes.  They’re so close and so open in this moment that he feels anything could happen; he _wants_ something to happen.

            “Look Danno!  I found Dr. Malia!” Grace calls out as she bounds in the room once again.

            Danny and Steve jerk back from each other quickly, hands dropping away from one another.  Danny swears if it’s the last thing he does, he’s going to teach Grace how to enter a room properly, he thinks as he gives Steve an apologetic smile.  He clears his throat and forces a smile on his face as he looks up a Malia, who is smirking at the two of them suspiciously.  Steve, thankfully, doesn’t seem to notice her look, more focused on the papers she has clutched in her hands.

            “So, uh, we ready to bust Super SEAL out of here or what?” Danny asks, standing up from his chair making room for Malia.

            “I’d say you’re ready to go,” Malia remarks, still smiling at them.  “I already gave Steve his discharge instructions and we already have the nurse and therapy sessions in line for the next week so all we really need is my signature.”  She pulls out a pen and scrawls her name across each page before handing them all over to Danny.

            “Once Mak gets here with the wheelchair-”

            “He’s here!” Grace announces as Mak appears in the doorway.

            “Well all right then.  Looks like you are ready to go then, Steve.”  Malia pulls Steve into a quick hug.  “Take care of yourself, you hear?”  She doesn’t pull away until Steve nods.  “Okay then.”

            “What do you say, Steve, you ready?”  Danny’s got all of Steve’s meager belongings packed up and split between him and Grace.  They’re both standing there watching him eagerly, identical smiles of excitement on their faces.

            “Yeah,” Steve agrees, smiling brightly at the two of them.  “Let’s go home.”

  
  
**END**  


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